Chapter 1. General Information; Introduction; Application - Panametrics flare.IQ Generation 2 Operation And Maintenance Manual

Chapter 1. General information

1.1

Introduction

This manual contains information about the installation,
operation, and maintenance of the flare.IQ Gen 2 control
system. Proprietary flare control and flare flow meter
validation software is installed on a rack mounted
assembly of industrial embedded automation computers.
The flare.IQ Gen 2 is a complete turnkey hardware and
software flare control solution that enables regulatory
compliance along with increased efficiency and reduced
operating costs.
Figure 1: Schematic of flare.IQ-based control of flare assist (steam/air) and supplemental fuel
flare.IQ
DPU
BTU
measurement
Flow
1.2

Application

flare.IQ is a control computer that receives inputs and sends
outputs to the customer's distributed control system (DCS)
via TCP/IP Modbus to control a flare's fuel gas and steam
supply valves (see figure 1). The software algorithm in
flare.IQ uses the sound speed measured by Panametrics'
ultrasonic flow meter to calculate the molecular weight
of the flare gas, and from the molecular weight, the net
heating value (NHV) is determined. Supplemental fuel gas
demand and steam/air demand are then calculated based
on current net heating values, hydrocarbon molecular
weight and flare vent gas flow. The flare.IQ is also capable
of digital validation of an ultrasonic flow meter installed on
the vent gas line either on a pre-determined schedule or
on demand. This digital validation algorithm uses measured
vs. calculated speed of sound based on an independent
online vent gas BTU and/or composition analyzer such as
a gas chromatograph. It also utilizes a variety of meter
diagnostics such as signal strength, transit times, path
length, and difference in channel velocities.
Modbus/TCP
Control
valve
Flow
Control
valve
Flow
DCS
Steam/air
Fuel gas
Flare gas
9