UME Kibble balance operating in air

Abstract

Abstract The UME KB-3 operating since 2020 allows the realization of kilogram under ambient air conditions owing to its distinguishing design and operation protocol. This is possible only because the coil pair is stationary but the surrounding magnet assembly is moving. The mechanically decoupled nature of the magnet assembly allows the implementation of a local vacuum for displacement measurements rather than a vacuum covering the entire apparatus. The balance operates in single mode with simultaneous operation of weighing and moving phases instead of successive phases. A novel dynamical measurement procedure is developed in order to conform with the single phase measurements. The paper describes the apparatus and presents the measurement results for stainless steel mass artefact with a nominal value of 1 kg. The mass of the artefact is measured with a total relative uncertainty of 54 ppb.