Abstract
An evolution of a previously proposed anemometer capable of detecting both the magnitude and the direction of the wind on a plane is proposed. The device is based on a recently formalized principle, consisting of combining the differential pressures measured across distinct diameters of a cylinder to estimate the wind velocity and incidence angle. Differently from previous sensors based on the same principle, the proposed anemometers use 3D printing to fabricate the channel structure that calculates the pressure combination in the fluidic domain. Furthermore, commercial sensors with low power consumption are used to read the two pressures that result from the fluidic processing. The whole fabrication procedure requires inexpensive equipment and can be adopted by small enterprises or research laboratories. Two original channel structures, predicted by previous theoretical work but never experimentally validated, are proposed. The results of detailed experiments performed in a wind tunnel are reported.
Highlights
Anemometers are devices designed to detect the velocity vectors of gas streams
Wind intensity and direction can be inferred by the knowledge of the UAV attitude and other flight parameters [10,12], direct measurement of the wind velocity by an onboard anemometer may help to improve the robustness of the wind estimate and is hindered only by the limitations of the currently available sensors [13]
In 2009, we proposed a method to detect the magnitude and direction of the wind on a plane (2D anemometer) by combining the pressure differences developed by the wind across several pairs of points placed on the outer surface of a cylinder [25]
Summary
Anemometers are devices designed to detect the velocity vectors of gas streams. Traditional fields of application for anemometers are weather forecasting, assistance in navigation and airport operations. Developed to detect small flow rates inside pipes with extremely low power consumption, MEMS thermal anemometers are being proposed to directly detect the wind intensity and direction [16]. The use of plastic or ceramic substrates with low thermal conductivity, combined with metal deposition and etching steps, has been proposed to partially simplify the fabrication flow while keeping dimensions small to mitigate power consumption [23,24] Another very popular approach is the DP (differential pressure) method, consisting of detecting the pressure differences induced by the wind stream when it hits a body of proper shape. In 2009, we proposed a method to detect the magnitude and direction of the wind on a plane (2D anemometer) by combining the pressure differences developed by the wind across several pairs of points placed on the outer surface of a cylinder [25].
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