CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018: Natural gas vehicle (NGV) dispensing systems has been released.
While other alternative vehicles steal the most attention, natural gas vehicles (NGV) are practical for numerous purposes. With methane as a readily available source, there are two types of NGVs: liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles—with natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state at around -260 degrees Fahrenheit—and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles—with natural gas that has been compressed to less than one percent of its volume at standard atmospheric pressure.
NGVs only make up a sliver of the total automobiles in use. Currently, there are about 15.2 million natural gas vehicles worldwide. Only 150,000 of these are in the United States, where close to fifteen percent of all buses run on natural gas. However, with methane as a highly competitive commodity and financial incentives in some U.S. states, the usage of NGVs is growing.
Compressed natural gas fueling stations number about 12,000 worldwide, with about 500 public stations in the U.S. These fueling stations—providing CNG in compliance with SAE J 1616-2017: Recommended Practice for Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle Fuel—vary in infrastructure, depending on the amount of storage capacity available and the size of the compressor.
Fast-fill stations get methane from the local utility line to form CNG by using a compressor on-site. The CNG moves to a series of storage vessels, leaving the fuel available for quick fill-up. This makes fast-fill stations useful for retail situations and other circumstances in which vehicles arrive randomly and need to fill up quickly, similar to conventional gas stations.
Time-fill stations, like fast-fill ones, receive natural gas through the utility at low pressure to an on-site compressor. However, they differ in that vehicles at time-fill stations generally are filled directly from the compressor. This can take some time, so time-fill stations are used primarily by fleets and work best for vehicles with large tanks that refuel at a central location every night.
Standard for CNG Vehicle Dispensing Systems
While CNG is generally used to fuel fleet-based or other heavy-duty vehicles, compressed natural gas vehicles are available in a range of products, from buses to heavy-duty pickups made by GM, Ford, and Chrysler, as well as some light-duty options, such as a CNG-fueled Honda Civic. For these numerous vehicle types, it remains crucial for compressed natural gas to be compressed and delivered in a safe and effective manner.
CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018 is the standard for NGV dispensing systems, and it was written for dispensers that were intended for use by the gas composition covered in SAE J 1616-2017—therefore, compressed natural gas.
CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018 is applicable to the mechanical and electrical features of newly manufactured systems that dispense natural gas for vehicles where the dispensing system is intended primarily to dispense the methane directly into the fuel storage container of the vehicle. In addition, it applies to NGV dispensers contained in a single housing and those contained in multiple housings for metering and registering devices, remote electronics, remote overfill protection, hoses, and nozzles.
In serving these applications, CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018 details the construction and performance of different components in an NGV dispenser.
The standard does not, however, apply to compression and ancillary equipment, compressed natural gas storage containers, priority valve equipment, vehicle fueling appliances for NGV, remote station or kiosk consoles, and remote sequencing equipment.
Please note that vehicle fueling appliances are addressed in CSA/ANSI NGV 5.2-2017 (R2021). Compressed natural gas vehicle fueling connection devices are covered in CSA/ANSI NGV 1-2017.
The installation of a NGV dispensing system is intended to be in accordance with NFPA 52-2019 in the United States and CSA B108.1-2021 in Canada, as well as the requirements of the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018: Natural gas vehicle (NGV) dispensing systems is available on the ANSI Webstore.
