Clamp-on Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeters Have Injected the New ...

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Page 1 Author / Department

Clamp-on Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeters

Have Injected the New Blood

into Natural Gas Check-metering and

Custody Transfer Application

Characteristics of Clamp-on Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeter

Rocky Zhang

Siemens



Table of contents

Global acceptance of ultrasonic technology

Theory of operation

Similarities and differences between Clamp-on ultrasonic

gas flowmeters and ultrasonic liquid flowmeter

Differences between the field clamp-on and clamp-on

spool in check-metering and custody transfer application

Benefits of clamp-on ultrasonic gas flowmeter

A few unique features of Siemens clamp-on gas

flowmeters

Short video of Apple App for local and remote meter

access for programming and diagnostics



Ultrasonic Flow Measurement Technology

Ultrasonic Flowmetering is the Fastest Growing Flow

Measurement Technology – 9%

Relatively New, Proven & Dynamic

AGA, API, ISO, ASME, etc. are in place



API issue the standard and Siemens participated

in its testing towards the Standard Establishment



AGA Standard with Clamp-on being qualified



Ultrasonic Flow Technology Category

Acoustic Measurement Type Transit Time

Doppler

Installation type Insertion (in-line wetted sensor)

Clamp- on Type (externally mounted sensor)

Clamp-on Transit Time Signal Transmission Type Wide Beam

Shear Mode (Narrow Beam)



First, let’s take a look at transit-time theory…

There is a time difference. Why?

Downstream Upstream

A

B



Ultrasonic Flow Metering Variations

A

B



Clamp-on Market 2012 Survey by Flow Research

Siemens has the No. 1 market share

Clamp-on Market

Clamp market share

Technology Breakdown

Source: Flow Market Research Study April 2012



Shear Mode (Narrow beam) / Wide beam Transmission (Clamp-on)

Wide Beam

wide beam

Shear Mode Narrow beam

Click for Sample wide beam

Click for Sample Shear Mode

Insert Wave

WideBeam.html

WideBeam.html

WideBeam.html

ShearMode3.html



WideBeam Convert pipe into transducers and “Sees” most of the Fluid Flow Profile to

provide much more Stable and Repeatable Data

Wetted Insert

Quadruple

WideBeam Dual WideBeam

WideBeam™ Clamp-On Flowmeter



Clamp-on Technologies -

Wide Beam and Narrow Beam transit time

WideBeam.html -

WideBeam.html

WideBeam.html

WideBeam.html



Upstream Transducer Downstream Transducer

Signal path

Burst of pulses

From transducer

Arrival of signal

through pipe wall

Arrival of signal

through

measured stream

Time

Operation of Zero Flow Correction

Pipe wall signal path

Operation of Zero Drift Correction



Basic clamp-on system configuration



Differences between ultrasonic gas and

liquid measurement

Low density (1 Kg/m3 vs. 1000 Kg/m3 for water)

Low gas sound velocity (350 m/s vs. 1500 m/s for water)

Lower refraction angle(7 degree for clamp-on vs. 30 for liquid)

High flow velocity (As high as 100 m/s vs. 5 m/s for most liquids)

High accuracy requirement (Typically 0.5% or better)

Sonic gas signals are harder to inject

Otherwise same as liquid such as both using transit time technology



Gas Molecular Weight vs. Sonic Velocity @ 0oC

(MW reference from CRC handbook)

Ammonia

Methane

Nitrogen / Carbon Monoxide

Hydrogen Sulfide

Chlorine

Carbon Dioxide

Oxygen

Air

Hydrogen

Helium

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Gas Sonic Velocity Vs (Mps)

Ac

tua

l M

W (

gra

ms

/mo

le)

Curve represents the Flare Gas meter

computed MW derived from the measured

temperature and sonic velocity.

MW = k R T for k = 1.29 (specific heat ratio)

Vs2

R = Gas constant (8314)

T = Degrees Kelvin

Ethylene

Sulfur dioxide

Clamp-On Gas and Gas Properties



Similarity and Difference Between Liquids and Gases

• Gas has a much lower density and sonic propagation velocity

• Gas has a lower refraction angle



Gas has a lower sonic impedance and therefore less amplitude

Similarity and Difference Between Liquids and Gases

Before damping After damping

Importance of Damping Material



Dampening Material

Removes pipe wall noise and convert its energy from sound to heat

Sonic impedance of material is a better match to the pipe wall than the gas

Transducer can be mounted on top of the material

Improves SNR



Clamp-On Gas and Gas Properties

Compressibility factor for Natural Gas

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Pressure (bara)

Z-F

acto

r

0 C

20 C

40 C

60 C

80 C

100 C

ACT

BASE

ACT

BASE

BASE

ACT

ACTBASEZ

Z

T

T

P

PQQ



FUG1010 compensate for temperature, pressure and

gas compressibility using fixed gas compensation

Fixed gas composition



Standard Volume and Gas Compressibility

Compensation



Non-Intrusive Technology

No Pressure Drop or Energy Loss

No need to cut pipe or stop flow except for spool

Little to No Maintenance

No Moving Parts, No Wear, No Foul, No Cavity

No need for sensor cleaning

Application:

Check metering

Custody transfer

Portable application

Diagnostics:

Tell flow direction

Tell meter’s health and time for calibration and

maintenance

Clamp-on Flowmeter Benefits



Siemens Clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter Benefits

Wide beam technology (highly immune to beam blowing and PCV noise)

Patented compensation algorithms to improve accuracy for different

upstream pipe configurations

Use pipe wall signal to verify the flowmeter’s integrity of both hardware

and software

The signal diagnostic graphics can be viewed from the transmitter which is

used as an oscilloscope for diagnostic

Apple App Connection – to program, download data and diagnose the

flowmeter both locally and remotely

Wide beam technology is the only technology that can perform the

custody transfer accuracy by using externally mounted sensors.



40+ Patent

Compensation for upstream conditions

Family of Flow Profile Correction Values as a Function of Pipe Configuration

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

1

1.05

1.E+01 1.E+02 1.E+03 1.E+04 1.E+05 1.E+06 1.E+07 1.E+08

Reynolds Number

Pro

file

Co

rrecti

on

Mu

ltip

lier

Fully Developed

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten (Flat)

Eleven (Depressed)

Twelve

Region of Jet Flow

Region of Depressed Core Flow

Fully Developed Flow Profile

Copyright: Controlotron 2004

Flat Flow Profile

Compensation for upstream

pipe configuration to improve

accuracy



Pipe Configuration Compensation



Beam Blowing

In case of fluids with very high velocity, the acoustic signal may be blown

out of the reception area of the transducer.

The shear mode clamp-on transducers are sensitive to beam blowing.

The WideBeam transducers are highly immune to beam blowing effects.

WideBeam benefits: Increased Immunity to Beam Blowing



INSENSATIVE TO CONTROL VALVE NOISE

CV Noise = 100khz - 150khz

Insert Meters = 100Khz – 200

Khz;

WideBeam Meters = 200khz –

450khz (most gas applications)



Custody transfer flowmeter with externally mounted

transducers


Page 30 Author / Department Page 30 9/20/2014 For internal use only

Insert vs Clam-on Sensors

No Cavity and no sensor cleaning

for clamp-on technology

Cavity cause local flow disturbance and

wetted sensor has built up and

contamination potential



Patented Technology

TransLoc mounting system

One of 5 winners in measurement

category

Recognized for non-intrusive

ultrasonic sensors and 1st meter

of its kind to offer custody

transfer accuracy



Siware – Diagnostic, Viewing, Reporting,

Application Review and Sensor Selection



Si-Ware Diagnostic software

../../PI3 Regional Training Package/Ultrasonic Clamp-on/Videos/Si-Ware_FINAL.wmv



Local and Remote Access to Gas Flowmeter (Siemens

SITRANS CONNECTION)



Typical field clamp-on gas flowmeter



Typical Transloc Clamp-on spool with

external mounted sensors



Typical gas checkmetering using clamp-on

gas flowmeter



Some more field Clamp-on installation- Natural Gas

(24”)



42” Field Clamp-on Gas

meter



55” CLAMP-ON GAS METER



4 Beam in Cold Weather



Gas measurement with toxic HCL

– 10” OD/2.5” WT



Portable check-metering kit



KOGAS Installations with KRISS Calibration





Test at TransCanada Calibrations 8CS40 Pipe,

Dual Beam, Reflect

Insert Chordal 5-path failed at about 95 ft/sec!

Results of Testing Field Clamp-On System 1010GC

vs. Turbine Reference Meter (8CS40 Pipe)

-2.00

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500

Flow (m3/hr) (Flow Rates >qt)

De

via

tio

n (

%)

(FW

ME

Co

rre

ctio

n p

er

AG

A-9

)

130 f/s, w/o Flow

Conditioner and no-

correction, as-found

datapoint

Testing at TCC with flow conditioner () and adjustment; except for the data point at 130 ft/sec (), which was “out-of-

the-box” performance with flow conditioner removed.



What is SITRANS CONNECTION?

SITRANS CONNECTION.wmv



Thank you for your attention!

Max Mustermann

Function

Sector / Region / Department

Musterstraße 123

12345 Musterstadt

Phone: +49 (1234) 56789

Fax: +49 (1234) 98765

Cellular: +49 (170) 1234567

E-Mail: [email protected]

Clamp-on Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeters Have Injected the New ...

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