Advanced tech firms win funding to create ultrasonic hydrogen flow meter
Ionix Advanced Technologies and Smartech Management have won a government grant to develop a meter to accurately measure the flow of hydrogen and hydrogen blends.
The 18-month project, partly funded by Innovate UK, is due to start in Q4 2023. It is intended to help the transition to a hydrogen technology.
Ionix, based in Huddersfield’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre, and St Neots-based Smartech have previously collaborated on developing and commercialising flare gas systems working at market-leading temperature ranges.
The ultrasonic meter will use Ionix’s piezoceramic HPZ, able to convert an electrical signal into vibration, and vice versa, in extreme environments.
Ionix product director Dr William Vickers said, “Ionix are experts at applying our innovative piezoceramic material to the most challenging applications and pushing the limits of what can be achieved with this class of material.”
Measurement of flow using ultrasound offers unrivalled precision, but hydrogen is a difficult medium due to an extremely high speed of sound. The firms must develop next generation sensing methods overcome the significant challenges.
Dr Neil Bird, principal scientist within Smartech, said, “As the UK moves inexorably towards a hydrogen economy, solving the challenge of measuring rapidly flowing hydrogen, a gas which has, to-date, proved almost impossible to measure with ultrasonics, is a challenge we are proud to undertake.”
The project team aims to perfect the measurement of gas flow in both 100% hydrogen, and in hydrogen/hydrocarbon blends. The measurement of blends is critical during the transition to hydrogen will allow the companies to develop and commercialize their first sensor system aimed primarily at the hydrogen sector.
Corinna Jones, head of innovation at National Gas Transmission PLC, said of the project, “This exciting proposal is an important milestone in growing the UK’s capacity and momentum in hydrogen research and supporting National Gas’s strategic ambitions in expanding its capabilities and reach both within the UK and beyond.”
