Ease of use for mid-stream gas revenue, custody transfer and storage operations
SICK has released its next generation of ultrasonic gas flowmeter, the FLOWSIC600-XT, to offer even greater reliability, measurement accuracy and ease of use for mid-stream gas revenue, custody transfer and storage operations.
Since its introduction more than 15 years ago, the FLOWSIC600 ultrasonic gas meter has become a market leader with more than 15,000 installations worldwide. Important new technology developments to the FLOWSIC600-XT have further enhanced performance and achieved even higher resistance to distorted flow profiles. The upgrade also includes new user-friendly FLOWgate™ software that is backwards compatible with existing FLOWSIC600 models.
“For all sectors of the industry, from exploration down to end customer billing, accuracy and consistency of measurement is extremely important; margins are very tight and minute percentages make all the difference,” points out Andrew Wrath, SICK UK industrial flow measurement specialist.
“On-shore or offshore, ultrasonic technology offers the most reliable measurement for billing of gas. Ultrasonics perform well in noisy signal environments and overcome contamination.
“With the FLOWSIC600-XT we have reduced the possibility for signal degradation even further and signal availability is ensured under all operating conditions. Intelligent application diagnostics provide a detailed but easily-understood overview which alerts the engineer of possible problems, and how to solve them, and it can be interrogated from all over the world.
“New algorithms deliver an up to 12dB improvement in signal-to-noise detection, so measurement is secure even in noisy, vibration-affected, industrial environments. With the optional addition of pressure and temperature sensors, geometrical effects can be automatically corrected even when changing from calibration to application conditions.”
The new FLOWSIC600-XT model has the same footprint and in-built robustness as the FLOWSIC600 and is delivered pre-calibrated from the factory for immediate installation and use.
Four formats are available: Standard 4 path fiscal standard meter, 2plex version with inbuilt check single path meter (with two HMI interfaces for further diagnostics), Quattro dual 4 path fiscal meter and Forte 8 path fiscal meter (short inlet to compensate for turbulent flow problems in restricted pipe configurations down to two pipe diameters with class 1.0 performance). The FLOWSIC600-XT will be introduced gradually to replace all the FLOWSIC600 models over the next 24 months.
The robust FLOWSIC600-XT is certified as an MID Class 1 meter and can be installed as class 1.0 or 0.5 in accordance with OIML-R137 for use in hundreds of applications where measuring, checking and certifying gas flow is critical. The advanced algorithms and electronics are easy to use and configure, while allowing compensation for disturbances in gas flow conditions. SICK’s ‘fingerprint’ concept allows the diagnostics to continually monitor the meter performance against pre-set parameters.
The FLOWSIC600-XT supports Modbus register mapping and the multiple IO-links and add versatility for communication with site control systems. The i-diagnostics™ are offline rather than cloud-based, to ensure security through the upgraded FLOWgate™ software. As well as the electronic security, security of data is maintained through the PowerIn™ standby battery facility which maintains meter operation in the event of a failure of the external power supply.
“SICK have their own dedicated servicing facilities in the UK, for immediate response to any problems,” adds Andrew Wrath. “Not that we are needed very often; we recently removed a FLOWSIC600 after eight years of service for recalibration, but the instrument showed exactly the same post-calibration curve as before the procedure. There had been no degradation in performance after eight years of near-continuous use.”
For more information on the SICK FLOWSIC600-XT ultrasonic gas flowmeter, please contact Andrea Hornby on 01727 831121 or email andrea.hornby@sick.co.uk.