Solar Panel Mounted Ultrasonic Anemometer
Document Type
Poster
Event Website
https://source2022.sched.com/
Start Date
16-5-2022
End Date
16-5-2022
Keywords
Electronics Engineering Technology, Ultrasonic Anemometer, LabVIEW
Abstract
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding research titled, Hybrid Experimental-Numerical Methodology and Field Calibration for Prediction of Peak Wind Effects on Low-Rise Buildings and Their Appurtenances. Because of the high wind that Ellensburg regularly experiences the Hogue Technology Building was chosen to record data on real world conditions. Pressure, strain, and acceleration are measured on the rooftop solar panel array of Hogue, and windspeed is measured on the roof approximately 50 yards north of the panels. Current windspeed measurements record unobstructed windspeed, but there is no data to understand how the wind is interacting with the solar panels. The goal of this project is to use a custom-made ultrasonic anemometer to record the wind speed and direction on the back plane of a single solar panel. This project uses four ultrasonic transducers two placed on opposite sides of a solar panel facing each other, and the other two 90 degrees apart from the previous two in the same configuration. Ultrasonic pulses will be sent from one sensor and recorded by the sensor opposite. This will be done in each of the four directions. Change in time of flight (TOF) of ultrasonic pulses is used to calculate the wind velocity in the plane of the four ultrasonic transducers. LabVIEW is used to configure the sensors, manage timing of different ultrasonic pulses, and collect TOF values. Collected data will be timestamped and integrated into the current collection system of the NSF project to correlate with already collected data.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Gage, "Solar Panel Mounted Ultrasonic Anemometer" (2022). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 33.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/CEPS/33
Department/Program
Electronic Engineering Technology
Additional Mentoring Department
Electronic Engineering Technology
Solar Panel Mounted Ultrasonic Anemometer
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding research titled, Hybrid Experimental-Numerical Methodology and Field Calibration for Prediction of Peak Wind Effects on Low-Rise Buildings and Their Appurtenances. Because of the high wind that Ellensburg regularly experiences the Hogue Technology Building was chosen to record data on real world conditions. Pressure, strain, and acceleration are measured on the rooftop solar panel array of Hogue, and windspeed is measured on the roof approximately 50 yards north of the panels. Current windspeed measurements record unobstructed windspeed, but there is no data to understand how the wind is interacting with the solar panels. The goal of this project is to use a custom-made ultrasonic anemometer to record the wind speed and direction on the back plane of a single solar panel. This project uses four ultrasonic transducers two placed on opposite sides of a solar panel facing each other, and the other two 90 degrees apart from the previous two in the same configuration. Ultrasonic pulses will be sent from one sensor and recorded by the sensor opposite. This will be done in each of the four directions. Change in time of flight (TOF) of ultrasonic pulses is used to calculate the wind velocity in the plane of the four ultrasonic transducers. LabVIEW is used to configure the sensors, manage timing of different ultrasonic pulses, and collect TOF values. Collected data will be timestamped and integrated into the current collection system of the NSF project to correlate with already collected data.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/CEPS/33
Faculty Mentor(s)
Lad Holden