Sierra SmartTrak 100 Digital Gas Mass Flow Meter and Controller

Overview

The Sierra SmartTrak 100 series is a family of digital mass flow meters and mass flow controllers for gas, available as M100 meters and C100 controllers in low, medium and high flow ranges. It measures and controls gas mass flow from 10 sccm up to 1000 slpm, and it is designed for OEM equipment, industrial processes and research. The manufacturer built the series around a patented, inherently linear laminar flow element, advanced platinum sensor technology and a proprietary frictionless-hovering control valve.

Gas blending, reactor feeds, burner and furnace trains, calibration benches and analyzer systems in Oman need repeatable low-flow gas control rather than bulk pipeline measurement. Seven Star LLC supplies the Sierra SmartTrak 100 with engineering support in Muscat, so laboratories, instrument builders and process plants can obtain meters, controllers and accessories such as the Pilot Module together with the correct gas calibration.

Laminar Flow Thermal Principle

Inside the Sierra SmartTrak 100 a fraction of the gas is split into a bypass made up of the laminar flow element, which keeps the flow linear and proportional across the full range. A thermal sensor using platinum sensing technology measures the mass flow in the sensing path, and the result is a mass measurement independent of pressure and temperature changes within the specified limits. In controller versions, the output is compared with the setpoint and a direct-acting valve with a frictionless-hovering design adjusts the flow, which gives smooth valve performance.

The Dial-A-Gas feature lets users select from up to ten pre-programmed gases, each with its own zero, span and full scale, and up to nine alternate gases may be substituted. The ten standard gases are air, argon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, helium, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and nitrous oxide. Calibration of the Sierra SmartTrak 100 is performed with primary standards directly traceable to NIST, and the typical response time of a controller is 2 seconds to within 2 percent of the final value.

Engineering Design of the Sierra SmartTrak 100

Wetted parts of the Sierra SmartTrak 100 are 316 stainless steel or equivalent with 416 stainless steel and Viton O-rings and valve seat as standard, and the instrument has a small footprint suited to replacing older meters and controllers. Models are offered in low flow (10 sccm to 50 slpm), medium flow (20 to 200 slpm) and high flow (100 to 1000 slpm) versions, with fitting options including compression, VCO, VCR and FNPT in several sizes. Maximum gas pressure is 500 psig (34.5 barg) with burst testing to 750 psig, and gas and ambient temperature range from 32 to 122 °F (0 to 50 °C).

Power is a single-sided 24 VDC supply, with controller draw ranging from 500 mA for low flow to 1260 mA for high flow versions. Analog outputs are linear 4 to 20 mA together with a selectable 0 to 5, 1 to 5 or 0 to 10 VDC signal, and RS-232 is standard, with RS-485 and Modbus RTU for multidrop networks. An optional front-mounted or hand-held Pilot Module allows operators to view and change flow rate, engineering units, zero, span and gas selection, and SmartTrak 100 software provides the same control from a PC.

Key Features

The Sierra SmartTrak 100 offers these capabilities:

• Meters and controllers for mass flows from 10 sccm up to 1000 slpm of nitrogen equivalent.
• Dial-A-Gas technology with ten pre-programmed gases, or substitute gases supplied by the user.
• Accuracy of plus or minus 1.0 percent of full scale including linearity, with repeatability of plus or minus 0.2 percent of full scale.
• Inherently linear laminar flow element and advanced platinum sensor technology.
• Proprietary frictionless-hovering, direct-acting control valve for smooth control on the C100 controllers.
• Pilot Module, mounted or hand-held, for changing critical control functions without a PC.
• 316 stainless steel construction and leak integrity of 5 x 10^-9 atm cc/sec of helium or better.
• RS-232, RS-485, 4-20 mA, 0-5, 1-5 and 0-10 VDC signals, with Modbus support and CE approval.

Industrial Applications

The Sierra SmartTrak 100 is used where small gas flows must be known or controlled precisely: gas mixing and blending, catalyst and reactor feeds, burner and furnace control, analyzer sample and calibration gases, semiconductor and research equipment and OEM machinery. In the Sultanate of Oman it fits quality control laboratories, university and research facilities, gas analysis shelters at oil, gas and petrochemical plants, and test benches used by instrumentation workshops in Muscat, Sohar and Salalah.

Controllers need adequate pressure drop for stable control, and the datasheet tabulates minimum differential pressure by flow range, with separate tables for meters and controllers by flow rate and fitting size. Seven Star LLC supplies the Sierra SmartTrak 100 together with related flow instruments such as the Sierra Instruments QuadraTherm 640i thermal mass flow meter, the Endress+Hauser t-mass 65F thermal mass flowmeter and the OMNI 7000 flow computer.

Technical Specifications

The table lists data from the manufacturer datasheet for the Sierra SmartTrak 100. Confirm model, flow range, gas and fittings against the ordering chart.

Request a Quote for Sierra SmartTrak 100

Request a quotation for the Sierra SmartTrak 100 by sending an RFQ to the Seven Star LLC instrumentation team in Muscat that lists meter or controller, gas, flow range, fittings and communication needs. We will confirm the model, arrange supply to Oman and the GCC and include the manufacturer’s Sierra SmartTrak 100 datasheet with the quotation so your engineers can review specifications before purchase.