Gas Meter Self-Diagnostics for Targeted Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gas meter maintenance procedures are costly and time-consuming, as they require spot checks and recalibration of entire production batches due to the inability to continuously monitor and assess the health and accuracy of individual meters effectively.
Innovation Solution
A system where gas meters continuously self-check their functioning using criteria such as power management, ageing, wear-out, accuracy impacting, and alarm states, reporting necessary repairs or replacements to a head-end system for assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If spot check procedure is used to verify gas meter accuracy, then the whole production can remain in place if meters are within limits, but the procedure is expensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The gas meter performs preliminary self-checks of its own functionality and accuracy using internal sensors and test routines before actual gas measurement. This preliminary action includes testing the turbine, sensors, and processing unit to ensure proper operation, eliminating the need for time-consuming external spot checks
Solution Approach 2:
The gas meter serves itself by continuously monitoring its own health status through integrated sensors that detect turbine speed, flow rate, temperature, and pressure. The meter independently determines whether it is functioning within acceptable parameters without requiring external verification
2Reliability
If spot check procedure is used to verify gas meter accuracy, then the whole production can remain in place if meters are within limits, but the procedure is expensive and cost prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
The gas meter autonomously monitors its own operational parameters using integrated sensors, eliminating the need for expensive external verification services. The system continuously assesses its own accuracy and reliability without requiring human intervention or external equipment
3Reliability
If one or more gas meters are not functioning properly, then the whole production lot needs to be taken out of the distribution net and recalibrated, but this causes unnecessary downtime and loss
Solution Approach 1:
The gas meter system divides the distribution network into individual monitorable units, allowing each meter to be independently assessed for functionality. This segmentation enables selective maintenance of only affected meters rather than shutting down the entire network
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously feeds back operational status information from each gas meter to the control system. When a meter deviates from acceptable parameters, the feedback mechanism triggers targeted intervention only for that specific meter, maintaining overall network productivity
4Productivity
If continuous self-checking is implemented in gas meters, then time and cost of meter operator checks is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gas meter integrates multiple functions into a single device: it performs both gas measurement and self-diagnostics using the same sensors and processing unit. The turbine, sensors, and microprocessor serve dual purposes of primary measurement and health monitoring, avoiding the need for separate dedicated test equipment
Data Source
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Figure 2(a)
Figure 2(b)
AI summary
The system a gas meter configured to determine a meter health factor based on a power management criteria, ageing criteria, wear out criteria, accuracy impacting criteria, and an alarm state. The gas meter can determine if the meter health factor indicates if functioning is intact, if functioning is intact or assistance and repair is needed immediately or at a future time interval based on the power management criteria, ageing criteria, wear out criteria, accuracy impacting criteria, and an alarm state. The gas meter informs a head end system that the assistance and repair is required. The head end system receives information that the assistance and repair is required, and obtains the required assistance and repair from one or more external sources.