Custody transfer flowmeters

GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies announces the Sentinel LCT and Sentinel LNG flowmeters. Sentinel LCT has been designed for liquid custody transfer measurements of crude oil and refined oil products. Sentinel LNG provides accurate measurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with improved accuracy compared to traditional ship- and tank-level measurement. This is a Control Engineering North American print edition Product Exclusive.

By Control Engineering Staff June 29, 2009

GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies’ Sentinel LCT and Sentinel LNG flowmeters provide high accuracy for liquid custody transfer measurements of crude oil, refined oil products, and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies announces the Sentinel LCT and Sentinel LNG flowmeters. Sentinel LCT has been designed for liquid custody transfer measurements of crude oil and refined oil products. Sentinel LNG provides accurate measurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with improved accuracy compared to traditional ship- and tank-level measurement. Both flowmeters combine extreme reliability with very high accuracy, company says.

Extensive CFD (computational fluid dynamics) calculations are used to guarantee the high accuracy, even under conditions where flow conditions change constantly. Sentinel LCT has a number of unique, GE proprietary, features that make the meters independent of viscosity changes. Whether measuring gasoline or a heavy crude, the flow measurement is not affected by viscosity changes, unlike mechanical meters that require a proving run with each product change. This saves customer time, potential for human errors, and eliminates the need for an expensive on site prover.

Sentinel LCT uses advanced diagnostics to performs continuous self-checks, and will send a warning when something goes wrong. A built-in flowcomputer allows for pressure, temperature, and density corrections according to API 11.1. Sentinel LNG is designed for cryogenic LNG measurements. It has an externally certified measurement uncertainty of 0.2% to 0.25%. Where a level measurement needs multiple level, pressure and temperature transducers to compensate for density variations, one Sentinel LNG can measure total volume during loading and unloading of a ship or tanks. Tanks trapping tables and corrections for a ship that moves due to wave motion are no longer required, allowing for a significant improvement in measurement accuracy.

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“With Sentinel LCT and LNG we are adding the highest accuracy ultrasonic liquid flowmeters in the industry to our already robust line of flowmeters,” says Ashish Bhandari, General Manager of the flow segment at GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies.

Both models have welded constructions and no moving parts to wear over time, causing meter drift. Both instruments are full bore and do not require filters or strainers that cause a pressure drop. Sentinel LNG has specially designed acoustic buffers that allow the acoustic transducers to be mounted outside the cryogenic zone. The transducers therefore never see temperature shocks to ensure prevention from long-term stress cracking.