Digital pressure measurement for hydrogen applications

Pressure measurement specialists, ESI Technology, has launched a range of pressure transmitters designed for use in a wide range of hydrogen applications. MEPCA found out more.

ESI Technology has created solutions across a multitude of applications, including aerospace, defence, oil and gas, subsea, and renewable energies.

Recent TUV testing has also allowed ESI to release a range of hydrogen-compatible pressure transmitters. Test passed to ISO 1114-2:2017, the new range meets European Regulations EC 79/2009 and EU 406/2010, and is available with DNV-GL, ATEX, or combination certification.

This new range offers a general industrial, high pressure and high accuracy variant (available with a combination of ATEX and DNV-GL certification) plus a digital pressure transducer in the form of the GD4200-H-USB.

The GD4200HUSB digital pressure transducer has been designed to plug and play. It connects instantly to a PC, tablet, or laptop via the ESI-USB software and enables users to measure, analyse and record pressure directly to a PC without the need for costly I/O interface boards.

Nine pressure ranges have been carefully selected to enable the user to cover any pressure that the application requires, from vacuum up to 5,000 bar.

Features of the new range include:

• Pressure ranges from vacuum to 5,000 bar

• Silicon-on-Sapphire sensor technology

• A titanium diaphragm and pressure port

• Sample rate software selection up to 1,000Hz

• Accuracy (NLHR) +0.15% of span BFSL

• Free ESI-USB Software with auto-updates

• Support for easy integration with applications created by C#, VB, Labview and Excel VBA (api dll library)

The pressure diaphragm and threaded pressure port are machined from a specialist titanium alloy specifically designed to withstand harsh and demanding environments. This, along with the non-oilfilled sensor and high-integrity stainless steel housing, results in a robust and versatile unit that offers excellent media compatibility across a range of environments.

The GD4200-H-USB also benefits from the same Silicon on Sapphire (SOS) sensor technology used throughout the ESI brand, providing outstanding performance, stability and highly accurate pressure measurement.

The ESI-USB software is compatible with Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 and is presented onscreen in real-time without loss of accuracy or bandwidth. The sample rate enables dynamic pressures to be measured with up to 21-bit resolution at user-selectable speeds up to 1,000Hz. Data can be displayed in graphical or tabular form, with a choice of pressure units and fully adjustable scales and saved to a file or exported to Excel, PDF and .csv.

Other useful features include certificate generation, customisable certificate templates, leak testing, the ability to measure, record and view up to 16 sensors at the same time, virtual differential pressure measurement, options to set automatic test start and stop times, alarm levels for each individual sensor and autoupdates for new software versions.

Ideal for hydrogen applications

Hydrogen offers a cleaner, more secure, and more affordable source of energy with the potential to drastically reduce and tackle CO2 emission levels and is already used in a growing variety of industries. Although the oil and gas sector remains the predominant source of energy supply and usage, there are significant efforts being made to find an alternative.

With that in mind, ESI is committed to offering a product range that is not only versatile and environmentally friendly, but also offers the same outstanding performance and stability that they are known for.

You can find ESI’s hydrogen products available to use in a range of applications, including hydrogen storage and production, hydrogen re-fuelling, hydrogen engines, marine propulsion, hydrogen fuel cells, laboratory environments and industrial applications. www.esi-tec.com