Ultrasonic sensors

By
V.S.Boopathiraja
 What is an Ultrasonic Anemometer / Ultrasonic
Wind Sensor?
 
An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed,
and is a common weather station instrument. The term
is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning
wind. The first known description of an anemometer
was given by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450.
Anemometers can be divided into two classes: those
that measure the wind's speed, and those that measure
the wind's pressure; but as there is a close connection
between the pressure and the speed, an anemometer
designed for one will give information about both.
 ULTRASONIC WIND SENSOR
Principle:

• It works on principle of Doppler Effect.

• It has four transducers which are in all four directions-
North, South, East and West.
• The wind sonic measures the time taken for an ultrasonic
pulse to travel from one transducer (North Direction) to
another transducer (South direction) and compares it with
the time for a pulse to travel from transducer (South
direction) to transducer (North Direction).
• Similarly same case is repeated for East and West
transducers.
 ULTRASONIC WIND SENSOR
Example:

If a North wind is blowing then the time taken to travel

from North to South will be faster from South to North
whereas from West to East or East to West will be same.

The wind speed and direction can then be calculated

from the differences in the flight of each transducer.
ULTRASONIC WIND SENSOR

Specifications:

• Wind Speed:
Range: 0 – 60 m/s
Accuracy: ± 2% (1.2 m/s)

• Wind Direction:
Range: 0 ̊-359 ̊
Accuracy: ±3 ̊
ULTRASONIC WIND SENSOR

An ultrasonic transducer is a device that

converts energy into ultrasound, or sound
waves above the normal range of human
hearing.
Performanceo
sU
f trlasoncw
in
idsensor

• Performance of the sensor is also verified in IMD(India

Meteorological Department) wind tunnel at Pune.
• Ultrasonic wind sensor data for the AWS stations Pune
and Kolkata is compared with co-located Dyne
Pressure Tube Anemograph.
• This comparison is taken in consideration that both
have wind sensor are kept at height of 10 meter.
• The performance of ultrasonic wind sensor in all
installed AWS stations is very good.
 As per WMO guidelines accuracy for
horizontal Wind Speed and Wind
Direction
Accuracy for horizontal wind speed are as:
• 0.5 m/s below 5 m/s
• better than 10% above 5 m/s
• This accuracy is sufficient for weather monitoring and
forecasting, wind load climatology, wind energy,
estimation of surface fluxes- evaporation, air pollution
dispersion and agriculture applications and probability of
wind damage.
Wind direction should measure an accuracy of
5 degree.
Performances of Ultra wind sonic
sensor in Indian Subcontinent

• The wind data during June, 2007(SW

Monsoon period) of Ultra sonic wind
sensor in East coasts and West coasts
of India have been analyzed.
 Performances of Ultra wind sonic
sensor in Indian Subcontinent
The wind data of four AWS stations along East coast
of India have been analyzed and their locations of
automatic weather stations are:

 Sagar Island (Lat. 21.7 ˚ E, Long. 88.1˚ N),

 Vizianagaram (Lat. 18.1 ˚ E, Long. 83.4 ˚ N),
 Chennai (Lat. 13.1 ˚ E, Long 80.2 ˚ N)
 Karaikal (Lat. 10.9 ˚ E, Long. 79.8 ˚ N).
 Performances of Ultra wind sonic
sensor in Indian Subcontinent
The wind data of four AWS stations along West coast
of have been analyzed and their locations of
automatic weather stations are:

 Thiruvananthapuram(Lat. 08.3 ˚ E, Long. 76.9 ˚N),

 Goa (Lat. 15.4 ˚ E, Long. 73.8 ˚ N),
 Mumbai Santa Cruz(Lat. 19.1 ˚ E, Long. 72.8 ˚ N)
 Dwarka(Lat. 22.4 ˚ E, Long. 69.1 ˚ N).
MEASUREMENT BASED ON
ULTRASOUND
The WS425 uses ultrasound to determine horizontal wind
speed and direction. The measurement is based on transit
time, the time it takes for the ultrasound to travel from one
transducer to another, depending on the wind speed.
The transit time is measured in both directions for a pair of
transducer heads. Using two measurements for each of the
three ultrasonic aths at 60° angles to each other, the
WS425 computes the wing speed and direction.
 The wind measurements are calculated in a way that
completely eliminates the effects of altitude, temperature
and humidity
Ultrasonic Wind Sensor Myths

 
Myth: Birds like to nest in ultrasonic wind sensors
Reality: There have been very few reported cases of birds and other
animals using ultrasonic wind sensors for making their homes. In field
reports from manufacturers incidents of this type are as low, or lower, than
that for conventional wind sensors.
Myth: You can be injured by placing your hand inside the area of operation
of an ultrasonic sensor
Reality: The device operates at very low power levels and as such is of no
danger to human health. 
Myth: Ultrasonic sensors are expensive.
Reality: When taking into account the whole operational liftime of a
sensor the amortized cost is very comperable to that of more conventional
wind sensors.
Benefits of Ultrasonic Technology.

- No or little moving parts.

- Usually stainless steel contruction or better allowing
operation in harsh environments.
- High MTBF.
- Technology capable of high accuracy levels
- Low maintenance
- Lightweight and compact design
- Minimal mountings required
- Minimal sail area allowing for high survivability in
high winds
Benefits of Ultrasonic Technology
• The sensor is factory calibrated.
• It requires no calibration at field site
• The sensor is configured to take sample at an interval
of 1 sec starting from three minutes prior to full hour
UTC i.e. 57th minute of an hour.
• Based on 180 samples of wind speed and wind
direction, vector averaged Wind Speed and Wind
Direction is computed.
Real time applications

The wind data are comparable and useful for

weather monitoring and forecasting,wind load
climatology,wind energy, estimation of surfacefluxes-
evaporation,air pollution,dispersion and agriculture
applications and probability of wind damage.
Real time applications

Continue…

The wind data of east coast and west coast of India

during SW Monsoon period(June,2007) has been
analyzed and found useful for weather monitoring and
forecasting.

Studies should that the wind measured by ultrasonic

wind sensor on the coastal status of India compared
well within the wind recorded manual wind measuring
equipment of IMD at these stations.
THANK YOU