In the scenarios of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage, transportation and refueling, the selection of LPG flow meters directly affects costs and safety - choosing the right one can avoid "unnecessary consumption", while choosing the wrong one may secretly "lose profits".
LPG is a gas-liquid two-phase medium: at normal temperature and pressure, it is in gaseous state; after being pressurized, it becomes liquid. During transportation and use, "gas-liquid conversion" often occurs. This has created two "pitfalls" for measurement:
Backflow leakage: When the pipeline is out of service, the remaining LPG is prone to backflow due to pressure differences. Ordinary flow meters do not have anti-backflow structures, which can lead to inaccurate measurement data;
Precision drift: Temperature and pressure fluctuations can change the density and volume of LPG. Ordinary flow meters are prone to "a tank of gas with a 10% difference in measurement in winter and summer".
Flow meters like LPG-M50 address industry pain points through two core designs:
Internal leakage check valve + return gas pipeline: A built-in one-way valve (Check Valve) is used to prevent reverse flow of the medium, and the return gas pipeline can balance the pressure inside the pipe, avoiding "idle measurement";
Gas-liquid universal + density adaptive: Equipped with temperature and pressure compensation devices, regardless of whether LPG is in liquid or gaseous state, it can automatically convert to standard volume, and the accuracy is not affected by the medium form.
Take a small LPG refueling station as an example:
If using a regular flowmeter, the measurement error caused by backflow and gas-liquid conversion is approximately 3% - 5%. Calculated based on annual refueling of 100 tons of LPG (unit price 5000 yuan/ton), the annual loss is about 15,000 - 25,000 yuan;
After equipping with an air-liquid universal + anti-backflow flowmeter, the error can be controlled within 0.5%, and at the same time, the equipment maintenance costs due to liquid leakage and cavitation can be reduced (annual savings of about 5,000 yuan).
The core of LPG measurement is not "choosing the more expensive one", but "choosing the one that suits the characteristics of the medium" - flowmeters with internal leakage prevention, dual gas-liquid communication, and temperature and pressure compensation are the choices that can both control costs and ensure safety.
