Development of Kibble balance for primary realization of Massa

Purpose and goal

The project aims, within the framework of an international collaboration led by NPL, to develop and construct a Kibble scale which, after the end of the project, will be placed at the Riksmätplatsen with the aim of being able to carry out traceable measurements of mass based on the new SI definition. The Kibble scale will also be able to be used for future research and development in the area and will be an extremely important instrument for increasing competence in Sweden´s primary metrology.

Expected results and effects

With the new scales now being manufactured in parallel with the work on NPL´s demonstrator, the technical part of the project has entered its third phase which deals with the completion of the final product. As for the goal of spreading the skills, a comprehensive popular science article dealing with Kibblevågen and its function has been published in the Svenska Fysikersamfundets yearbook. We have also received media attention in connection with the news that the first "consensus value" for the kilogram in accordance with the new definition has been produced at BIPM.

Planned approach and implementation

Due to covid-19, the delivery of RISE´s scale (as well as other scales) has been delayed. To a large extent, this is due to the lockdowns that parts of NPL were exposed to during the year and which made it impossible to keep to the schedule. At the moment we do not have any definitive information on when delivery can take place, but large parts of the mechanics and electronics have been manufactured, delivered to NPL and tested. At home, we have instead used the time to build up the infrastructure around the kibble scale that will be necessary for the scale´s operation.