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Gas meter

test facilities

Gas meter test facilities
About our gas meter test facilities
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Our gas meter test facilities under atmospheric pressure, with a very large capacity range varying from 0.16 up to 10000 m³/h are not only designed to test your gas meter with the maximum precision and minimum test times, but are also designed for comfortable operation and use. The facility comes complete with an inbuild electrical operated lifting- and clamping system. Bolts and nuts are a thing of the past. Installing the different diameter insertion in- and outlet pipes makes it very easy to switch from diameter. This all contributes to an easy to use test facility with a high production capacity.

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Our test facilities are equipped with highly accurate sensors to process and record the measured values. Each measured and calculated value can be displayed and is stored in the dedicated RonTronx RTF Software.

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Although our test facilities require little maintenance, we offer support in the field of maintenance of the machinery and calibration of the measurement sensors like: temperature- and pressure sensors and the reference gas meters.

We use certified calibration equipment and travel standards that are calibrated at VSL.

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Our customers
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Our customers are companies and institutes from all over the world that have their business and focus in gas meters. You can think of energy suppliers or companies that produce and repair gas meters. But also national institutions that monitor the SI units. For all our customers it is important that they can verify and demonstrate the quality of their gas meters. To make this possible, they use our a gas meter test facilities.

Principle

The principle of a gas meter test facility is that a gas meter to be tested (MUT Meter Under Test) is compared with one or more reference meters. The MUT and the reference meters are connected to each other by means of pipes and valves. The installation often has a fan and a control valve which is used to set a certain flow. The whole is constructed in such a way that the same amount of air passes through the MUT as through the reference meters.

When preparing a test, the operator will set a number flow rates with a specific test time. The gas meters emit a number of pulses during the test. The number of pulses per unit of time is a measure of the amount of air that passes through the meter. However, this amount is not only dependent on the number of pulses per unit of time. In determining, the influence of temperature and pressure is also taken into account. In addition, a correction is also made to the deviation of the reference meters at the set flow rate. Ultimately, the amount of air through the MUT is compared with that of the reference meters. A percentage deviation follows from this. Doing this for multiple flow rates, spread between the maximum and minimum capacity creates an error curve. This error curve indicates the quality of the meter to be examined.

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Co-operation

RonTronx has entered into a partnership with PGM for the development of gas meter test facilities.

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PGM has many years of experience in gas meter manufacturing and developed a special pulsation-free gas meter. These meters are extremely suitable to be used as reference meter in test facilities. Because this type of meter does not influence the meter under test due to possible pulsations. PGM also develops the mechanical construction of the test facilities.

 

RonTronx develops the software and hardware controls associated with the calibration software. RonTronx has more then 15 years of experience in the field of gas meter calibration systems. In the past RonTronx has built different types of gas meter test facilities. In particular low pressure installations, but also a high pressure and a sonic nozzle test facility. By combining the experience and knowledge of both our companies, we are capable to build test facilities that meet all our customers' wishes for the best practice and price.

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Our test facilities are particularly suitable for testing rotor, turbine and ultrasonic gas meters under atmospheric conditions. Atmospheric conditions means that we use normal ambient air as a test medium.

Hardware functionality

All components that we use are freely available on the market. This is important for the maintainability and service life of the installation. This especially applies to the control cabinet. The heart of the installation is a Beckhoff PLC with its input and output cards. A real-time program runs in the PLC that takes care of pulse-time measurement. By means of the in- and output cards we control the installation and accurately measure the pressure and temperature.

Specifications

  • Compact design.

  • All components free available on the market.

  • Start, stop, reset and emergency stop. 

  • Meter under test pulse amplifying

  • Complete with electrical drawings. 

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Software functionality

Beside the PLC program, we have also developed the RTF software that can be installed on any Windows machine. With this RTF software, the operator can prepare a test plan and set different flows with specific test times. Once the test plan is started it is executed fully automatically. During the tests, the relevant temperatures, pressures, counted pulses and the elapsed time are measured and recorded. At each test point the passed volume is calculated for both the meter under test (MUT) and the reference meters. Comparing these volumes gives a certain deviation. The percentage of this deviation is called: 'The Error of the MUT'. This error is determined for all flows in the test plan and presented in a graph. All data is stored for possible analysis at a later date. The test report can be printed with your own company logo and the layout is customer specified. The language of the HMI can be changed literally in any language. The software can present the results in different units (metric or imperial). Multiple user levels can be set for operators. The measurement sensors that are used can be calibrated using the program. Software updates are automatically downloaded and can be installed if required.

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Software Specifications

  • Automatically testing of gas meters.

  • Leakage test.

  • User defined test reports.

  • Multiple user levels.

  • Storage of each meter under test.

  • Machine learning flow control.

  • Artificial intelligence controlled HMI language

  • Calibration of internal used temperature sensors, barometer, dp-transmitter  and puls-time measurement.

  • Machine operating hours and load balancing of standard meters and blowers.

  • WhatsApp remote test report notification on smartphone.

  • Metric and imperial unit support.

  • Automatic software updates. 

  • Qr code meter data readout

  • And many more

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 For more information, demo or prices please contact RonTronx. We are confident that we can give you the best solution and price!

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