Greentech Lead India: OMRON Corporation, a provider of
automation technology, in partnership with global semiconductor provider
STMicroelectronics, has completed the development of a MEMS-based gas flow
sensor for smart gas metering.
The new gas flow sensor is the first to embed automatic
gas-quality compensation. It features built-in correction for differences in
gas composition.
The new gas-flow sensor combines OMRON’s state-of-the-art
MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) thermal flow transducer with ST’s
high-performance analog front-end IC, delivering high-precision gas flow-rate
measurement with excellent reproducibility.
Gas meters built around the OMRON/ST solution do not need
to be configured for a certain type of gas at the time of shipment or
installation, as they are intrinsically compensated for both temperature and
pressure variations and a built-in circuit compensates for the variation of
multiple gas composition. The sensor is dust-resistant to comply with
international gas-meter standards.
OMRON will start sample shipments of the new sensor
in November 2012.
There are over 400 million mechanical gas meters in the
world and most major gas providers are readying to replace their traditional
meters with more accurate and reliable electronic devices. Global smart gas
meter market is expected to exceed 10 million units a year by 2015
The OMRON/ST sensor solution enables the
development of smart gas meters that are much smaller, less expensive, and more
power-efficient than the conventional equipment, resulting in substantial cost
savings for the utility companies and end users alike.
“The successful collaboration with OMRON in gas metering
expands ST’s foothold in the increasingly important field of ‘intelligent
measurement’ and sets us to replicate the great success we have achieved in
smart electricity metering,” said Marco Cassis, executive vice president and
president, Japan and Korea Region, STMicroelectronics.
“By enabling IT-based smart metering, this new
technology will significantly contribute to energy saving,” said Yoshio
Sekiguchi, senior general manager of the Micro Devices Division of OMRON
Corporation.