October 22, 2012, Seoul – OMRON Corporation (hereinafter OMRON), a world leader in automation technology, and STMicroelectronics (hereinafter ST), a global semiconductor company in various electronic device applications, announced that they have completed the development of the industry's first MEMS-based gas flow sensor with built-in gas component difference adjustment capabilities. OMRON plans to begin shipping samples of this latest sensor in November 2012.

Much like electricity usage measurement, gas metering is shifting from traditional mechanical solutions to smart electronic meters equipped with automatic meter reading capabilities. Currently, over 400 million mechanical gas meters are in use worldwide, and most major gas suppliers are preparing to replace them with electronic devices that offer higher accuracy and reliability.

Based on Omron-ST sensor solutions, it is possible to develop smart gas meters that are smaller, cheaper, and more power-efficient than existing equipment, in addition to precision and reliability. As a result, both public utilities and general users have been able to enjoy significant cost savings. Industry analysts predict that the global smart gas meter market will exceed 10 million units by 2015.

This latest gas flow sensor combines Omron’s state-of-the-art MEMS thermal flow converter with ST’s high-performance analog front-end IC to measure high-precision gas flow ratios with excellent reproducibility. Omron-ST solution-based gas meters are designed to inherently compensate for temperature and pressure variations, and since the built-in circuitry compensates for multiple gas component types, there is no need to set specific gas types during shipment or installation. This sensor complies with international gas meter standards and is equipped with a dust blocking function.

Marco Cassis, Senior Vice President and Country Manager for Korea and Japan at STMicroelectronics, said, “Through successful collaboration with Omron, ST has not only strengthened its position in the field of ‘intelligent metering’ but has also been able to replicate the success achieved in the smart electricity metering sector.”

Yoshio Sekiguchi, General Manager of the Micro Devices Business Unit at Omron Corporation, said, “We are very pleased to introduce the latest one-stop solution for implementing a simple yet highly accurate smart gas meter system to the global market through successful collaboration with ST. This latest technology will contribute significantly to energy conservation by enabling IT-based smart metering.”

Editor's Note
Device specifications:
Model number G4 G6
Measurable flow rate range 0 ~ 7.2 m³/h 0 ~ 12 m³/h
Accuracy 3%RD (0.04 ~ 0.6 m3/h) 3%RD (0.06 ~ 1 m3/h)
1.5%RD (0.6 ~ 6m3/h) 1.5%RD (1 ~ 10m3/h)
Gas composition can be modified
Operating temperature range -25 to 55°C (Temperature characteristics: 0.5% RD/10 Celsius)
Passed dust barrier test according to EN14236 standard
Power consumption 0.051mA/h
Output format I2C
External dimensions 81.7mm(L), 55.1(W), 62.3(H)