| Description |
Anemometry is the measurement of wind force and velocity. Though anemom-etry technology is fairly well developed, many velocity measurement devices are expensive, large, and/or fragile. Due to these limitations, deploying large numbers of anemometers is difficult, and often unrealistic. The miniature optical-based velocity probe is a new instrument that o ers advantages over current state-of-the-art anemometers in terms of lower expense, lower power consumption and lighter weight. The probe consists of a high performance plastic optical ber, a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), and a position sensitive detector (PSD). Light transmitted by the VCSEL shines through the free end of the optical ber illuminating the surface of the PSD. A drag force, induced by an approach ow, causes the optical ber to de ect. The PSD measures the de ection of the optical ber and outputs an analog voltage, which can be directly related to velocity through a calibration curve. Equations for the de ection and natural frequency of the optical ber, along with numerical simulations in FLUENT were used to make key design decisions in order to optimize the probe to meet the target speci cations for atmospheric research. Preliminary calibration experiments show that the velocity probe has the potential to be a viable replacement for other research-quality anemometers. |
