Fluidistor Gas Flowmeter GD 300 made of stainless steel with integrated condensate drain and optional redundant measurement method.
Fluidistor Gas Flowmeter GD 300 made of stainless steel with integrated condensate drain and optional redundant measurement method.
Over a period of several years, the company Esters Elektronik GmbH has successfully established the gas flow meter GD 300 with the Fluidistor principle for measuring aggressive biogas. The gas flow meter GD 300 in connection with the evaluation electronics GDR 1404 meets all requirements of robust raw biogas measurement. The device continuously measures the normalized flow including the additional parameters pressure, temperature and air pressure.
The GD 300 ensures full functionality even given adverse conditions, such as 100% gas humidity, high sulfur concentration or low gas pressure (< 2 mbar). The oscillating measuring method of the Fluidistor principle requires no moving parts or sensitive sensor materials, thereby enabling a virtually maintenance-free operation of the GD 300 is possible.
In case of a sensor exchange, the sensor can be directly changed by the on-site biogas plant staff. There is no need for measurement recalibration. Using the corresponding volume converter of the company all measured values and system conditions can be protected from possible manipulations.
The GD 300 is made completely out of stainless steel (V4A). Additionally, a condensate drain is integrated in the measuring head, which ensures the discharge of the condensate of 100 % wet biogas and prevents deposition. Even large volumes of condensate can pass the GD 300 without significantly influencing the resulting measurement.
The integrated condensate drain also allows the gas flow meter to be installed directly into vertically downwards gas pipelines. This simplifies installation and significantly reduces costs for retrofitting existing systems.The GD 300 can be mounted at a comfortable working height directly at the fermenter. Thus, no pipes need extending or nor does scaffolding have to be erected.
The redundant measurement method is based on two independent hot-wire sensors that are installed in the measuring head of the GD 300. The sensors are connected with two separate wires to separate volume conversion devices.
The evaluation electronics operate in hot-standby mode. In smooth operation the secondary converter takes over the current meter reading in a 100 ms cycle from the primary converter via a CAN-bus. Should the primary system fail (hot-wire sensor break, loss of pressure or temperature measurement, failure of the primary volume converter) the secondary system takes over all functions within 100 ms. After the primary system is restored, it automatically resumes the current meter reading from the secondary system. Should the secondary system fail, it can be changed without affecting the primary system.
