Industrial Gas Flow Measurement
Measure gas flow with inline or insertion ultrasonic instruments selected for the pipe, gas, pressure, temperature, velocity range, accuracy, and installation conditions.
Ultrasonic flow configurations for varied gas services
Industrial gas-flow applications range from compact inline meters to insertion systems for larger pipes, low-velocity gas, flare or vent service, and extreme-temperature conditions. The correct meter depends on the required performance and the physical installation.
Blue Dragon's BDF Flow Measurement Series includes single-path and dual-path inline instruments together with insertion configurations. Selection requires pipe dimensions, pressure, temperature, gas composition, velocity range, flow profile, straight-run availability, access, communications, hazardous-area requirements, and the required measurement basis.
What the application needs to establish
Determine gas-flow rate over the required operating range with an ultrasonic configuration suited to the pipe, gas properties, installation, and accuracy objective.
Why the measurement matters
Process control
Provide flow information for operation, balancing, and equipment performance.
Energy and fuel management
Measure natural gas, fuel gas, and utility-gas consumption or distribution.
Flare and vent visibility
Quantify low or changing gas flows where suitable installation and velocity range can be achieved.
Allocation and metering
Support internal allocation or metering workflows with the required project basis.
Troubleshooting
Identify changing gas demand, leakage, imbalance, or abnormal flow behavior.
How the measurement is approached
Transit-time ultrasonic meters compare acoustic travel time with and against the gas flow. Inline and insertion geometries, acoustic path count, transducer arrangement, signal processing, pressure and temperature compensation, and flow calculation are selected for the application.
Typical operating locations
- Natural-gas processing and transmission
- Fuel-gas and utility-gas networks
- Refinery and petrochemical process gas
- Fertilizer, chemical, hydrogen, and syngas systems
- Flare, vent, tank-vapor, and associated-gas applications
- Power-generation fuel and auxiliary gas
- High-temperature and large-pipe gas services
Instrument-selection considerations
- Pipe size, schedule, material, and internal condition
- Gas composition, pressure, temperature, and density basis
- Minimum, normal, and maximum flow or velocity
- Required accuracy, repeatability, turndown, and response
- Straight-run availability and flow-profile disturbance
- Inline or insertion installation and maintenance access
- Area classification, power, communications, outputs, and integration
Where this application is used.
Petrochemicals
Measurement systems for petrochemical feedstocks, reaction processes, fired equipment, utilities, effluent, gas flow, and material quality.
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Natural Gas & LNG
Measurement solutions for gas processing, sweetening, liquefaction, LNG quality, gas flow, utilities, and materials verification.
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Power Generation
Measurement systems for fuels, boiler and high-purity water, fired equipment, gas flow, materials, and conventional or nuclear generation.
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Fertilizers & Chemicals
Analytical and engineered measurement systems for feedstocks, process gases, reactors, utilities, effluent, flow, and material quality.
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Metals, Mining & Materials
Elemental, temperature, and gas-flow instruments for exploration, grade control, alloy verification, production, recycling, and materials laboratories.
Explore →Relevant measurement capabilities.
Explore the permanent Blue Dragon capability areas associated with this industry or application.
Flow Measurement Series
Ultrasonic gas-flow measurement instruments manufactured by Lauris Technologies, Canada, and supplied and supported by Blue Dragon Technology.
Explore series →Application questions.
How is the correct ultrasonic meter configuration selected?
Selection uses pipe size and schedule, gas composition, pressure, temperature, velocity range, flow profile, required accuracy, straight run, installation access, area classification, and communications.
What is the difference between inline and insertion meters?
Inline meters provide a defined meter body and acoustic geometry. Insertion meters place transducers into an existing pipe and may be advantageous for larger sizes or retrofit applications.
Can ultrasonic meters measure very low gas flow?
Some configurations are designed for low-velocity gas, but performance depends on pipe size, acoustic path, gas properties, installation, signal quality, and required uncertainty.
Can one model cover flare, custody, and high-temperature service?
No single configuration is optimal for every service. Flare or vent, internal metering, high-temperature, and higher-accuracy applications have different design and verification requirements.
Discuss your industrial gas-flow application.
Provide pipe size and schedule, gas composition, pressure and temperature, minimum and maximum flow, required accuracy, straight run, installation preference, area classification, and communications.