Breakthrough in Microthermal Technology for Natural Gas Metering is Announced

The new Sensirion SGM6200 module covers natural gases in group E with up to 25% hydrogen content at a current consumption below 10 µA

New environmentally friendly technologies, such as power-to-gas and biogas production systems, will change requirements for the entire natural gas industry, including gas metering. Due to these trends, future gas metering will be confronted with new mixtures of natural gas, including those that contain significant amounts of non-conventional fuel gases such as hydrogen or carbon dioxide. These new gas mixtures present a challenge for all the technologies currently used in natural gas metering. Sensirion has been working on these issues for many years and is proud to announce what we believe is a major breakthrough in microthermal gas metering using a new technology to measure thermal gas characteristics that was developed in house.

Sensirion plans to commercialize this new technology by adding the new SGM6200 series to its current product portfolio of SGM6000 modules. Furthermore, the sensor company believes that the SGM6200 series fulfills both current and future market requirements. One single module covers natural gases in groups H and L and E (as defined in EN437) as well as natural gas mixtures, including non-conventional fuel gases with up to 25% hydrogen content. The SGM6200 family will output temperature-compensated volumes of natural gas, aligned with today’s most widely used billing systems for natural gas. Competitive prices and ultra-low current consumption below 10 µA enable Sensirion’s customers to design very competitive, cutting-edge meters for natural gas.

Currently, Sensirion plans to make samples available by February 25, 2018. Start of production for the G4 module of the SGM6200 family is planned for Q3 2018. By assessing additional physical properties of natural gas, the SGM6200 series paves the way for realising Sensirion’s vision of direct energy content monitoring of natural gas in gas meters.

Over 1 million MID-approved smart gas meters with Sensirion’s microthermal gas meter modules are currently being operated in Europe by over 50 utility providers. Numerous pilot projects are running at leading utility providers in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and America with the goal of establishing Sensirion’s gas metering technology worldwide.

The microthermal sensing principle is a static metering technology featuring noiseless operation. Thanks to their compact size, Sensirion gas meter modules allow the design of very compact and cost-efficient gas meters for easy installation in the field, even in very confined spaces. Moreover, due to ultra-low power consumption, one single AA Li/SOCl2 cell is sufficient for more than 15 years of module operation.