Analog Panel Meters

The Versatile Measuring Instruments (VMI) division of the Amidyne Group is a leading manufacturer of rugged and dependable analog panel meters for a variety of applications including industrial, nuclear, military and aerospace. 

Besides our offering of standard meters, Amidyne has designed and manufactured a wide range of custom panel meters for specific applications, including specialized meters for difficult environmental conditions and replacements for obsolete panel meters no longer available on the market.

With the advent of digital panel meters in the 1980’s, many meter manufacturers discontinued the production of analog panel meters.  However, in some applications, especially those for nuclear Class 1 or Class 1E, digital meters are not an option, due to risks associated with the use of software.  As a result, Amidyne maintains its legacy designs and provides obsolescence solutions by developing drop-in replacements for analog meters that are no longer available on the market.

Versatile Measuring Instruments is well known for its engineering design capabilities and quality manufacturing. VMI has been providing top quality mechanical and electrical components, including panel meters, amplifiers, power supplies, and timer relays for over forty years.  All VMI design and manufacturing is performed to the to the American 10CFR50 Appendix B QA program, or to the CSA CAN Z299.2 QA program in Canada.

Design

Versatile Measuring Instruments Analog Panel Meters are built with only high quality, precision discrete analog components and durable materials.   Central to any VMI analog panel meter is a well-balanced and highly accurate meter movement.  VMI can provide meters utilizing movements with accuracies to greater than 0.25%.  VMI has expertise and designs analog meters with both Taut-Band and Pin-and-Jewel type meter movements all of which are built with precision and rigorously tested.  

To meet the needs of applications that require seismic qualification, VMI designs it’s panel meters to provide electrical isolation between indication and alarm conditions.  This proven design has allowed for some VMI panel meters to be seismically qualified for to accelerations up to 30g.

Applications

VMI panel meters are utilized in dozens of Nuclear Power Plant applications worldwide.  Whether the application is for an environmentally controlled laboratory or one requires extreme temperatures or humidity, VMI either has the product, or can design a custom solution to meet the unique needs of the application.

VMI develops meters utilizing a variety of input signals including voltage, current, or RTD in the orientation as required.  Most VMI panel meters are available with single or dual alarm relays, with panel accessible adjustments and alarm indication LEDs.  When required, scales can be drawn to each customer’s unique requirements.

Qualification and Testing

VMI panel meters are qualified to meet the customer’s unique requirements.  As required, VMI panel meters have been tested to strict requirements for such tests including:

• EMC Qualification Tests
  
  • Electrostatic Discharge (EN / IEC 61000-4-2)
  • Radiated Radio-Frequency Immunity (EN / IEC 61000-4-3)
  • Electrical Fast Transient Immunity (EN / IEC 61000-4-4)
  • Surge Immunity (EN / IEC 61000-4-5)
  • Conducted Radio-Frequency Immunity (EN / IEC 61000-4-6)
• Seismic Qualification Tests
• Thermal Aging
• Extreme Temperature & Humidity

Every VMI’s Analog Panel Meter goes through a comprehensive quality-testing program to ensure tight tolerances are maintained, often including all or most of the following tests:

• Repeatability
• Meter Movement Balance
• Response Time
• Relay Response Time
• Indicator Accuracy
• Set-Point Accuracy
• Dielectric Strength
• Deadband
• Hysteresis

Customized Solutions

For any applications that utilize specialized connectors including Amphenol, EDAC, terminal blocks or another specialized connector VMI can provide a solution. By taking on a new design project based on a legacy component, VMI can often suggest solutions for a fix to any problems inherent to the original design.

For a quotation on providing a solution to your analog panel meter needs:  Please contact us with the following information, in addition to any available specifications, drawings and photographs:

• Model Number
• Original Manufacturer
• Unit Size
• Panel Cutout Size
• Orientation: Horizontal, Vertical, and Angled
• Input Type: Current, Voltage, RTD
• Input Range: 4-20mA, 10-50mA, 0-5Vdc, etc
• Scale Divisions
• Scale Type: Linear, Square Root, Log, Mirrored, Bi-Level, etc.
  
• Outline Dimensions
  
• Bezel Color
• Alarms: Single, Dual
• Dial Type
• Input (Voltage, Current, RTD)
• Environmental Conditions
• Mounting

To see our complete line of panel instrumentation products, click here.