Gas Flow Meters with Thermal Time-of-Flight Technology

L. J. Huang

Abstract

The thermal mass flow meters based on the calorimetry for utility gas metering have been recently deployed in a few countries and in a fast growth, but several technical issues including the compliance with the existing tariff standards have also been under scrutiny which prevents the desired massive installation. In this paper, we present a new utility gas meter with the thermal time-of-flight sensing technology that can simultaneously measure the mass flow rate, flow velocity, gas pressure, temperature and gas composition variations with the state-of-the-art electronics. These values can be further relayed to the thermal values of the measured gases providing the possibility for the future metrology and tariffs as well as the energy management of the distribution of the city gas. The multi-parameter data acquired from the integrated sensing elements on the other hand challenge the conventional verification process specially when the cost-effectiveness is also critical for the applications. The current meter design with integrated data output, which employs the multi-parameter acquisition and signal modulation, is substantially different from the traditional flow meter for which the metrology standard is normally having a single parameter standard being referenced. The meter also has an integrated harvester that can convert the flow energy induced temperature gradient into electrical energy that can be used for powering the flow measurement.

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IMEKO TC

TC9 - Flow Measurement

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