Gas consumption monitor

Existing and upgraded supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems enable gas suppliers to ensure proper operation of their networks.

However, reliable data about when and how much gas is being used is also crucial because gas distributors need to be able to forecast gas consumption up to 48 hours ahead and negotiate wholesale gas purchases accordingly - large penalties are applied if forecasts are more than eight per cent out.

To help out, a European Eureka project called Intellgas has resulted in the development of an automatic system that could be deployed at a consumer’s premises, the use of the public GPRS mobile-phone network for particularly inexpensive transmission of data from remote sites and advanced algorithms for data analysis.

Measuring gas consumption directly is complicated because volume depends on temperature and pressure, requiring correction at the user premises to ensure that consumers pay the correct amount.

The system combines volume correction and data logging in a single explosion-proof unit that provides its output directly to the distribution centre over the GPRS mobile-phone network. This is the first time that all these functions have been combined in a single unit.