Basically, as we know, a natural gas fuel meter is used to measure the flow of natural gasses such as butane and propane. Besides being installed in every house, you can also find such meters at commercial buildings which use the supply through the supply pipes from the utility department.
The Good And The Bad
Natural gas flow meter is very good in the sense that it gives you the measurement of natural fuel being used in a certain period of time, however there is a drawback in this. This fuel meter can only measure a certain volume of fuel but can not tell exactly what it is measuring. The temperature and pressure levels must be known to find the actual amount of fuel moving through the specific meter, since generally fuel is more difficult to measure then other mediums like liquid and air because it is easily affected by both temperature and pressure changes.
The Different Types
There are basically three types of this fuel flow meter found commonly. They are; diaphragm or bellows meters, rotary meters, and turbine meters. The use of the different types of fuel flow meters are based on the total amount or volume of fuel to be measured.
Of the three, the most common is the diaphragm or bellows natural gas flow meter. Most residential users prefer this compared to the others. The meter works on a basis of diaphragm. This meter is a positive displacement meter.
Another such meter would be the rotary fuel flow meter. Unlike the first type of fuel flow meter, it uses a roots blower rather than a pair of diaphragms. This helps the meter to handle a higher amount of volume as well as pressure of gas than the former.
The third type of natural gas fuel meter would be the turbine meter. Unlike the above two, this is inferential type gas flow meter, and so it works differently. It works on a platform which uses a turbine contained within the gas pipe. And due to this reason, this type of natural gas flow meter can handle the highest amount of volume and pressure of gas compared to the others.
More information on this topic can be found in a number of different locations:
1) The Internet - A favorite search engine can be a very helpful tool
2) A Bookstore - Don't forget books; and bookstores are full of them
3) A Library - Yet another location for books; and the nice thing about the library is that they are free
