18NRM06 NEWGASMET

The overall objective of the project is to increase knowledge about the accuracy and durability of commercially available gas meters after exposure to renewable gases. This should lead to the improvement of existing meter designs and flow calibration standards.

The specific objectives of the project are:

• To assess the typical uses of renewable gas for which the effects on accuracy, costs and life time are not sufficiently known. Furthermore, to define an acceptable range of gas compositions, which will be suitable to support the new “renewable” framework and to list the missing tests which need to be performed during calibration to cover the use of renewable gases with existing gas meters.
• To develop traceable methods for the type testing and verification of flow meters that are used to measure renewable gas flows in compliance with the requirements of the 2014/32/EU Measuring Instruments Directive and to determine the uncertainty budget. Uncertainties of 1/5 Maximum Permissible Error (MPE) have to be achieved for type testing and 1/3 MPE for field verification. In addition, this project will study and evaluate the integrity of the meters’ internal components, the durability of the materials, the insulation of electronic components and other possible technical issues (dependent on the composition of the evaluated gas).
• To validate the calibration methods and uncertainty budgets developed for two flow calibration standards via an appropriate inter-laboratory comparison and to carry out type testing procedures for domestic and commercial gas meters with hydrogen.
• To contribute to the standards revision work in technical committees CEN/TC 237 and OIML TC8/SC7 to ensure that outputs from the project are aligned with their needs, communicated quickly to those developing the standards and to those who will use them, and in a form that can be incorporated into standards at the earliest opportunity.