Hirano J., Garmire D.
University of Hawaii at Manoa, US
Keywords: anemometer, architectural wind
As wind power generation becomes more popular especially in urban areas, it becomes important to understand wind flow on a small scale accounting for the effects of building topology and neighboring buildings for wind-energy availability. The proximity of neighboring buildings and the shape and structural artifacts present in a building affect the natural airflow in ways which are not detectable by coarse readings from a single anemometer. To measure architectural wind, we require many distributed anemometers that are low-cost, capable of measuring the three dimensional motion of wind, and readily mountable on a structure at some distance away from the surface of the structure. We demonstrate a low-cost anemometer capable of measuring up to 100 mph winds with a resolution of 0.2 mph. We use a mass-spring system that accurately tracks the wind by choosing a high resonant frequency and high damping for the three-stage parallel guided suspension. We also show the circuit implementation of this anemometer and characterization results.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: Technical Proceedings of the 2010 Clean Technology Conference and Trade Show
Published: June 21, 2010
Pages: 175 - 178
Industry sector: Energy & Sustainability
Topic: Biofuels & Bioproducts
ISBN: 978-1-4398-3419-0