Patent ID: 6604051
Filing Date: 2003-08-05
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A system to determine a heating value of a gas having a plurality of components, comprising:a database storing data representing a number of gas mixtures with known gas compositions; a sound velocity measurement device adapted to determine a speed of sound in the gas; a concentration measurement device adapted to determine the concentration of two or more diluent components of the gas, thereby providing diluent concentration measurements; and a processor system that stores values representing the speed of sound and the diluent concentration measurements as gas characterization properties and that calculates said heating value by calculating the mixture molecular weight as a function of the speed of sound and the diluent concentration values; calculating the hydrocarbon molecular weight as the difference between the mixture molecular weight and the molecular weight of the diluent concentrations, and calculating the heating value as a function of the hydrocarbon molecular weight and a set of constant values, wherein the constant values are determined from the gas characterization properties and by statistical analysis of data in the database.