Natural gas is a colorless and odorless hydrocarbon and an important energy source. In the production, transportation, storage, distribution, trade, and factory applications of natural gas, natural gas flow measurement is required.
With many years of experience in gas flow measurement services, Sino-Inst supplies commonly used natural gas flow meters. Including gas turbine flowmeters, thermal mass flowmeters, vortex flowmeters, etc. Accurate natural gas flow measurement improves operating costs in areas such as custody transfer, manufacturing, power generation and heating!
Natural gas has many uses, some of the most common ones include:
Heating. In addition to residential heating, natural gas is also used for commercial and industrial heating.
Power generation. Natural gas is an important source of fuel for power generation.
Transportation. Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are two types of natural gas that can be used as transportation fuels.
Manufacturing. Natural gas is used as a feedstock for chemicals such as ammonia and methanol. It is also used in the production of glass, steel, and ceramics.
Residential use. Natural gas is an important residential fuel.
Natural gas, of course, has many important uses and untapped potential. Natural gas flow measurement plays a crucial role in its processing, storage, and transportation, for example, in trade measurement and cost control.
Choosing the right natural gas flow meter ensures effective natural gas flow measurement. Currently, international natural gas trade measurement is categorized into three types: volumetric, mass, and energy.
Both mass and energy methods are used in international trade. Natural gas trade measurement in my country is based on volumetric or energy transfer within legally required quality standards. Currently, volumetric measurement is the primary method.
Depending on the accuracy requirements and operating conditions, a variety of instruments are available for natural gas flow measurement. The selection should be based on comprehensive considerations of accuracy, reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness. The following are some common natural gas flow meter options.
7 Types Natural Gas Flow Meters
Currently, flowmeters used for natural gas flow measurement generally include: gas turbine flowmeters, swirl flowmeters, roots flowmeters, vortex flowmeters, ultrasonic flowmeters, and orifice plate flowmeters. Below, we briefly compare these 7 types of flowmeters.
The gas turbine flowmeter is a frequently used instrument for measuring natural gas flow. Within a certain flow range, the turbine speed is proportional to the fluid flow rate. The fluid flow drives the turbine, and the turbine speed is converted into electrical pulses. The data is displayed on a secondary meter, reflecting the fluid flow rate.
Gas turbine flowmeters have low pressure loss and are suitable for gas metering in low-pressure transmission applications. Their excellent measurement repeatability makes them a preferred flowmeter for trade settlements.
Gas turbine flowmeters are suitable for measuring low-flow gases such as natural gas, air, and nitrogen. Currently, gas turbine flowmeters dominate the flowmeters used for gas measurement.
A thermal mass flowmeter directly measures gas mass flow by detecting the heat exchange relationship between a fluid and a heat source. Its core principle is based on the cooling effect of a fluid flowing through a heating element. A mathematical relationship between the temperature difference and mass flow rate is established using the constant temperature difference method or the constant power method.
The pipeline type can cover pipes from DN10 to DN300. The insertion type can cover large-diameter pipes from DN65 to DN4000.
It features no moving parts, low pressure drop, and a wide range ratio (up to 100:1). It is widely used for measuring the flow of gases such as natural gas, coal gas, liquefied petroleum gas, flare gas, and hydrogen.
A vortex flowmeter can measure natural gas. It is a stress-type vortex flowmeter that measures flow based on the Karman vortex principle.
It offers advantages such as high measurement accuracy, a wide measuring range, low power consumption, easy installation, simple operation, and low pressure loss. It can measure operating volume flow or standard volume flow (with integrated intelligent temperature and pressure compensation).
It is widely used to measure the volume and mass flow of superheated steam, saturated steam, compressed air, and general gases and liquids.
Roots flowmeters, also known as gas rotary flowmeters, can be used to measure not only dry gas but also wet gas.
When fluid passes through the flowmeter, the differential pressure between the flowmeter inlet and outlet causes the two rotary wheels to rotate in the positive direction. Liquid continuously flows in and out of the metering chamber. The fluid flow rate can be calculated simply by knowing the chamber volume and the number of rotary wheel rotations. Therefore, a gas rotary flowmeter is a positive displacement flowmeter, with high accuracy and low pressure drop as its main advantages.
In natural gas trade settlement, positive displacement flowmeters have inherent advantages. They do not require straight pipe sections and offer high accuracy and reliability, demonstrating long-term reliability in physical measurement.
Swirl flowmeters are currently the preferred flowmeter for some small natural gas distribution stations.
Gas entering a swirl flowmeter first passes through a spiral vortex generator, where it is forced to rotate and accelerate, forming a vortex with the vortex core at its center. The accelerated vortex decelerates rapidly after entering the expansion section, causing pressure to rise and generating backflow. Driven by this backflow, the vortex core precesses spirally around the meter’s axis. The vortex precession frequency f is measured using a sensitive element, and the flow rate Q can be derived.
The orifice flowmeter is currently the most widely used instrument for measuring natural gas flow.
When gas flows through a throttling device, the flow stream forms a localized constriction at the orifice plate. This increases the flow velocity and reduces the static pressure, creating a static pressure differential across the orifice plate. The greater the flow velocity, the greater the pressure differential across the orifice plate. Therefore, the natural gas flow rate can be measured by measuring the pressure differential across the orifice plate.
Orifice flowmeters offer the advantages of simple structure, easy installation, stable and reliable performance, and low price. Due to their long history of use, a comprehensive set of standards has been established for their manufacture and use, making them flexible in application.
Ultrasonic flowmeters estimate gas flow by measuring the propagation velocity of ultrasonic waves in a pipeline.
The flowmeter’s measuring pipe section is equipped with one or more pairs of ultrasonic transducers. These transducers alternately transmit and receive ultrasonic waves. Using ultrasonic detection technology, the flowmeter calculates the gas flow rate and the gas flow rate under standard conditions by measuring the difference in the speed of sound as the ultrasonic waves propagate in the forward and reverse directions of the airflow, as well as the fluid pressure and temperature in the pipe section, including the gas’s molar composition.
Gas ultrasonic flowmeters can be used to measure industrial gases such as natural gas, nitrogen, oxygen, air, hydrogen, argon, helium, ethylene, and propane.
Turbine type flow meter is an important velocity flow meter. It has the advantages of easy maintenance, large flow capacity and relatively low price. It has been widely used to measure the flow of liquids and gases. Including petroleum, organic liquids, natural gas, etc. Sino-Inst is one of the manufacturers of Turbine type flow meter, … Read more
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Ascertaining accurate and reliable measurement of gas flow rates is critical for a variety of industrial processes. The ability to measure gas mass flow accurately, rather than simply volumetric flow, provides insights into the true behavior of gases under varying conditions of temperature, pressure, and composition. In this blog post, we will explore the fundamentals … Read more
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is an indispensable commodity of domestic and industrial applications. It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant, replacing chlorofluorocarbons in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer. Choosing the right LPG Gas flow meter is crucial for optimal performance, safety, and efficiency of LPG systems. By … Read more
A rotameter is a device designed to measure the flow rate of fluid volume over time within a closed tube. It has a range of applications, including chemical injection, dosing, and tank blanketing. Also known as variable area flow meters, rotameters are used to measure liquid or gas volumetric flow rates as they pass through … Read more
When it comes to high-pressure applications, choosing the right flow meter is necessary for checking accuracy, reliability, and safety. High Pressure Flow Meters are perfect when measuring the flow of fluids under high pressures, such as in hydraulic testing. It is also perfect for chemical injection systems, as it withstands pressures up to 6.3MPA~42MPA and … Read more
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Gas turbine flow meter is a precision metering instrument used for gas flow measurement. Especially in natural gas transportation and trade settlement, the gas turbine flow meter is even more popular. Gas Turbine Flow Meter integrates temperature, pressure, and flow sensors. It is also equipped with an electronic volume corrector, which can simultaneously detect and … Read more
Gas flow measurement is an essential technology in many industrial processes. For example, in the production of chemical products, accurate measurement of the flow of gases such as oxygen and nitrogen can ensure that the reactants are added to the reactor in the appropriate proportion to obtain high-quality products. Introduction: Why Gas Flow Measurement is … Read more
Liquid and Gas ammonia (NH3) is an important industrial raw material. Ammonia flow meters are specially designed to measure the flow of industrial ammonia pipelines. Output pulse signal, 4-20mA, RS485, etc. Help us effectively monitor the flow of liquid or gaseous ammonia! Gas Ammonia properties and industrial applications Ammonia is a commonly used gas widely … Read more
Natural gas is a clean energy. The proportion in the energy structure is increasing year by year. The coverage of natural gas is also becoming more and more extensive. Therefore, natural gas flow measurement becomes an important link.The flow measurement of natural gas is mainly used in trade settlement at present. Natural gas trade measurement … Read more
Flow meters for measuring natural gas flow are diverse and offer unique characteristics. When selecting a natural gas flow meter, users should fully consider the characteristics of different natural gas types and carefully select the appropriate flow meter.
Sino-Inst is a professional natural gas flow meter manufacturer and supplier. We offer over 10 types of natural gas flow meters. Approximately 30% of these are turbine, vortex, ultrasonic, and thermal mass flow meters. Differential pressure flow meters (orifice plate flow meters) are the most widely used.
Sino-Inst sells through a well-established distribution network covering all 50 states and 30 countries worldwide. Our flow meters are most popular in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas. If you need to purchase a natural gas flow meter or have any technical questions, please feel free to contact us!
