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IEC 62419
Edition 1.0 2008-11

INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD

Control technology – Rules for the designation of measuring instruments

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION PRICE CODE
M
ICS 17.020; 25.040.40 ISBN 978-2-88910-698-1

® Registered trademark of the International Electrotechnical Commission

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CONTENTS
FOREWORD...........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................5
1 Scope and object..............................................................................................................6
2 Normative references .......................................................................................................6
3 Terms and definitions .......................................................................................................7
4 Designation rules .............................................................................................................8
4.1 General rules ..........................................................................................................8
4.2 Designation rules for measuring instruments ...........................................................9
4.2.1 Designation rules for displaying measuring instruments ...............................9
4.2.2 Designation rules for measuring instruments with signal output ...................9
4.3 Designation rules for measurement standards ....................................................... 10
4.4 Designation rules for measuring assemblies .......................................................... 10
4.5 Examples of terms of measuring instruments for complex measuring tasks ........... 10
Annex A (informative) Examples of recommended terms...................................................... 11
Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 12
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62419 © IEC:2008(E) –3–

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________

CONTROL TECHNOLOGY –
RULES FOR THE DESIGNATION OF MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

International Standard IEC 62419 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 65:
Industrial-process measurement, control and automation.

This standard cancels and replaces IEC/PAS 62419 published in 2005. This first edition
constitutes a technical revision.

The text of this standard is based on the following documents:

FDIS Report on voting

65/429/FDIS 65/430/RVD

Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
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The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.

A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

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62419 © IEC:2008(E) –5–

INTRODUCTION

The state of science concerning quantities and units has undergone significant changes in the
last century. During the period from 1920 to 1960 there was a fundamental change in the
comprehension and usage of physical quantities, which was particularly promoted by the
works of Julius Wallot published between 1922 and 1953. In this process the various systems
of physical units and the usage of numerical equations were replaced by the SI-units (see ISO
1000) and the usage of quantity equations. So the quantities were no longer linked to certain
units.

This development culminated in the publishing of the first edition of the German standard DIN
1313 Notation of physical equations in sciences and technology in 1931 and the resolutions of
the tenth general conference of weights and measures in 1954. Since then it has been
considered incorrect to address a quantity by its unit.

In view of this, measuring instruments should not be addressed by the unit of the measured
quantity but only by the measured quantity or the measuring task itself.

Referring to the question of market relevance, it must be stated, that especially with respect
to the international project of standardized classification and documentation in multilingual
equipment descriptions, it is important to critically address the situation regarding the
designation of measuring instruments. Ideally, every manufacturer should use the same
terminology. In practice, there is confusion in the proper designation of measuring instruments
within catalogues and sales brochures which also has consequences in technical literature.

It is not the intention of this standard to enforce particular usages in any language but to
make recommendations that remove the linguistic confusion in this field – or at least, reduce
it. Considering the urgent necessity of unambiguous technical communication over language
boundaries, this is a legitimate goal. This could also be considered to be a matter of global
importance.
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CONTROL TECHNOLOGY –
RULES FOR THE DESIGNATION OF MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

1 Scope and object

This International Standard is applicable to measurement technology. It defines rules for the
unambiguous designation of different types of measuring instruments and of measuring
instrument features with the intention of enabling unambiguous technical communication over
language boundaries.

The scope of this International Standard is

– the adaptation of the designation of measuring instruments and of measuring instrument

features to the state of science by designating them according to the measuring quantity
or the measuring task instead of the unit, and
– the adaptation of the designation of measuring instruments and of measuring instrument
features to the terms given in the ISO/IEC Guide 99 (VIM).

It is strongly recommended that “…….. measuring instrument” is used as secondary

component in compound terms. This is consistent with the objective of standardization,
namely uniformity, especially since the meaning of other secondary components, e.g.
“indicator”, “gauge”, “meter”, is no more descriptive than that of the standard component in
this context. For exceptions see 4.1 and A.2.

The ambiguous secondary component “... sensor” shall not be used. In its place one of the
secondary components “… sensing element”, “... detector”, “... transformer”, “... transducer”,
“… transmitter”, “... measuring instrument” or “... measuring chain” shall be used, depending
on the task of the functional unit being termed. The definitions for detector (detecting device),
transformer, transducer and transmitter are given in IEC 60050-351.

2 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

IEC 60050-311, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – Part 311: General terms relating
to measurements

IEC 60050-312, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – Part 312: General terms relating
to electrical measurements

IEC 60050-351: 2006, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – Part 351: Control

Technology

ISO/IEC Guide 99: 2007, International vocabulary of metrology – Basic and general concepts
and associated terms (VIM)

ISO 31 series, Quantities and units

ISO 1000, SI units and recommendations for the use of their multiples and of certain other
units