Company Profile

Thermal Mass Flow Meter Manufacturer: Sourcing Global Industrial Process Brands

Quick Answer: A thermal mass flow meter measures gas mass flow directly without needing separate temperature or pressure compensation. Silver Automation Instruments supplies inline and insertion thermal mass flow meters for air, natural gas, biogas, flue gas, and mixed industrial gases. Tell us your pipe size (DN), gas type, pressure (bar), temperature (°C), and required flow range (Nm³/h or kg/h) for a specific price quote today.

Why a Thermal Mass Flow Meter Works Where Other Meters Struggle

Most flow meters measure volume. A thermal mass flow meter measures mass directly by reading how much heat the gas flow carries away from a heated sensor. No separate pressure transmitter, no compensation calculator, no density lookup tables. In practice, this means one device does the job of three on a compressed air header. We see a lot of engineers replace vortex meters with thermal mass in low-pressure gas lines simply because the turndown is far better.

Two sensor types dominate the market. The insertion probe style slides into a pipe through a ball valve and measures the flow at a single point. The inline style goes directly in the pipe run with a flow conditioner built into the body. Both use platinum RTD sensors, typically PT100 references paired with a heated element, and the measurement principle is written into ISO 14511 for thermal mass flow in gases.

Industrial Gases We Measure Every Day

Compressed air is the big one. A single leaky flange or cracked hose costs a factory thousands of dollars a year in wasted electricity. Thermal mass meters for compressed air are easy to hot-tap with an insertion probe, and most plants in Thailand and Vietnam we work with install them at the compressor discharge and again at major branch lines to track usage by department.

Natural gas is equally common. Inline thermal mass meters with a short upstream straight run and a built-in flow straightener give repeatable readings down to low flow cutoffs that orifice plates cannot touch. Biogas and digester gas are trickier because of high moisture and variable methane content. Here the meter needs a dry sample, so we often specify a probe with a sintered filter and a heater jacket to prevent condensation on the sensor tip.

Flue gas and stack gas monitoring comes up a lot in India and Mexico. An insertion probe rated up to 250°C can handle CEMS applications when the sample point is well chosen. We ask for stack diameter, average velocity, gas composition, and dew point before we recommend a probe length.

Match the Model to Your Pipe Size and Flow Range

Silver ST10 inline thermal mass flow meter covers DN15 to DN50 pipe sizes with a built-in flow conditioner. It reads air and nitrogen down to 0.5 Nm³/h and up to 200 Nm³/h. The 4-20 mA HART output drops right into a PLC, and the local display shows instantaneous flow and totalized consumption. Silver ST10 is often used on burner feed lines, purging gas loops, and small nitrogen blanketing circuits in food and beverage plants.

Silver ST20 insertion thermal mass flow meter covers pipe diameters from DN50 up to DN600 and larger with custom probe lengths. Hot-tap retractable design means you install it without shutting down the line. This is the go-to choice for compressed air audits and large natural gas headers. The sensor is coated for mild corrosive gases, and the transmitter housing meets IP66 for outdoor mounting. You get Modbus RTU, 4-20 mA, and pulse output all standard.

Silver ST25 high-temperature thermal mass meter uses a ceramic-insulated probe rated for continuous operation at 300°C. We ship these into glass manufacturing and steel plants in the Middle East where stack gas temperature sits above 200°C continuously. Flange mounting is DN40 or