Understanding How Power Usage Is Measured

The term energy is used to describe a number of different things, including electricity used to power the appliances in your home, the gasoline used to power your car, the food you eat, as well as the effort it takes you to perform physical exercise. This term can be used to describe all of these things because simply put, energy is the ability to do work.

Energy can come in different forms including thermal, kinetic, chemical, electrical, gravitational, nuclear, and radiant. Because it comes in many different forms, describing energy can be a bit complicated. It’s also important to use the correct unit of measure, since there are several different units. Proper energy measurement is extremely important, especially in the oil and gas industry. In this industry, more than half a billion of oil and gas gets produced every day.

The unit of measurement that is used for crude oil is the barrel (BBL). There is 42 U.S. gallons in one barrel. Once crude oil gets extracted, free water and sediment gets removed from it. After the oil gets isolated, it can be measured. Meanwhile, the unit of measurement that is used for natural gas is thousand cubic feet (MCF). Flow meters are mostly used to measure natural gas production. They are the popular choice because they’re easily serviced in the field and don’t contain any moving parts.

Since this industry is constantly expanding, it’s important to measure oil and gas as precisely as possible, which is now possible thanks to advanced technologies. There are currently many different types of flow meters that do a great job of measuring gas flow.

Positive Displacement Flow Meters

There are several different types of positive displacement flow meters, including helical, piston, rotary, and oval gear. They are for commercial and residential, as well as industrial applications. They’re mostly used to measure utility gas flow, just like turbine flow meters.

Ultrasonic Flow Meters

When it comes to measuring gas flow, ultrasonic flow meters are an excellent choice. They’re usually used when exceptional accuracy is required. There are both inline and clamp-on models available today. Inline models are the top choice if you’re re looking for accuracy, since they have transducers that are mounted inside the pipe. On the other hand, you can clamp on the others kind of ultrasonic flow meters to the outside of the pipe. Although you won’t get the same type of accuracy you would by using inline models, these are still a good option when it comes to temporary flow measurement and check metering. Of course, they are also the popular choice since they can measure flow without penetrating pipes.

Thermal Flow Meters

Thermal flow meters work by injecting heat into the flowstream and then measuring how fast the heat dissipates. The value that is measured this way is proportional to mass flow. These types of flow meters are mostly used to measure stack gas flows. However, they’ve recently started being used for measurement of greenhouse gas emissions as well.

Vortex Flow Meters

These represent some of the most versatile flow meters available today. They are useful in measuring liquid, steam, and gas flows. They’ve only been used for the past several years, since they used to lack certain industry approvals in order to compete in custody-transfer markets. Now, you can find either gas or liquid versions of vortex flow meters. It’s worth mentioning that they have yet to reach the top of the custody transfer market. In this market, turbine, differential pressure, and ultrasonic flow meters are still the top choice.

DP Flow Meters

Differential pressure flow meters are mostly used for stack gas flow measurement. They come with analytical equipment that can help in analyzing the composition of gas that flow through the stack.