2.

Anemometers
D. S. KAYSER
(1982)

Receiver

J. KOZK

(1995)

B. G. LIPTK

(2003)

FT Velocity Flow Sheet Symbol

Types

A. Pitot B. Mechanical B1. Vane B2. Cup B3. Propeller or turbine C. Thermal D. Doppler D1. Acoustic or ultrasonic D2. Laser Hand-held air velocity sensors are used in HVAC applications; transmitting anemometers are utilized in industry and as wind speed monitors (1 ft/min = 0.3048 mpm = 0.0183 km/h = 0.0114 mph = 0.0167 ft/sec = 0.005 m/sec = 101.2 knots) A. 0 to 300, 0 to 1250, 0 to 2500, 0 to 5000, and 0 to 10,000 are standard ranges; total capability is 25 to 30,000 B1. 300 to 3000 is standard; can cover 30 to 12,000 B2. 0 to 15,000 B3. 0 to 13,000 C. 20 to 500, 50 to 1000, 100 to 2000, and 0 to 6000 are standard ranges; stack ow probes can go up to 18,000 D1. 0 to 7000 D2. 0 to 60,000 or up to supersonic A, B, and C. Detect wind velocities at the elevation of the tower height D1. Measures wind velocity in strata of 150 ft (50 m) thickness from 200 to 2000 ft (60 to 600 m) and sometimes up to 5000 ft (1500 m) A. 2 to 3% of full scale B1. From 1% of reading to 2% of full scale C. 2% of full scale D1. 1% of full scale Hand-held pitot, thermal, and mechanical anemometers range from $500 to $2500. Sensor probes alone cost about $300 to $500; combined units reading air velocity, humidity, and temperature are available from $800 to $3000. A vane-type probe with a 4- to 20-mA DC transmitter with a 1.5% full-scale error is about $2500. Thermal stack ow probes for wet and dirty gas applications cost about $5000. Doppler acoustic sounders for remote sounding of wind proles range in cost from $15,000 to $90,000; average cost is about $50,000. Laser Doppler units range from $25,000 to $45,000. ABB Instruments Inc. (www.abb.com/us/instrumentation) (A) Air Instruments & Measurements Inc. (www.aimanalysis.com) (B, D) Air Monitor Corp. (www.airmonitor.com) (A) Alnor Instrument Co. (www.alnor.com) (B1, C) Anderson Instrument Co. (www.andinst.com) Cole-Parmer Instrument Co. (www.coleparmer.com) (A, B, C)

Applications and Designs

Airow Velocity Ranges, Given in Feet per Minute (ft/min)

Wind Measurement Heights

Inaccuracy

Costs

Partial List of Suppliers

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Dwyer Instruments Inc. (www.dwyer-inst.com) (A, C) Eldridge Products Inc. (www.epiow.com) (C) The Foxboro Co. (www.foxboro.com) (A) Intek Inc. (www.intekow.com) (C) Kobold Instruments Inc. (www.koboldusa.com) (A) Kurz Instruments Inc. (www.kurzinstruments.com) (C) Meriam Instrument (www.meriam.com) (A) Mid-West Instrument (www.midwestinstrument.com) (A) Sierra Instruments Inc. (www.sierrainstruments.com) (C) TSI Inc. (www.tsi.com) (B, C, D2) United Electric Controls Co. (www.ueonline.com) (A) Vaisala Inc. (www.vaisala-usa.com) (B1, 2)

Anemometers are used to measure air and gas ows in a variety of applications, including such tasks as the balancing of HVAC systems using hand-held air velocity meters. They are also used in stacks to measure the velocity of wet and dirty gases and in wind detection applications to obtain threedimensional wind velocity proles using Doppler-type sensors. Anemometer designs include pitot, mechanical (vane, cup, propeller, turbine), thermal, and Doppler types. Pitot tubes and thermal owmeters are discussed later in this chapter. This section concentrates on the mechanical and Dopplertype anemometers. MECHANICAL ANEMOMETERS Figure 2.2a illustrates the vane design. Airow causes the vanes to rotate with an angular velocity that is proportional to the wind speed. When a portable unit is required, or when the local readout is satisfactory, vane velocity is sent to a local indicator through a gear-and-spring assembly. When remote readouts are required, a magnetic or capacitive coupling is used to generate a transmission signal. Figure 2.2b shows a three-cup anemometer, which is insensitive to wind direction. In one design, the shaft drives a direct current (DC) tachometer, which generates an output voltage that is proportional to the wind speed. This signal can
FIG. 2.2b Three-cup anemometer.

FIG. 2.2c Impeller anemometer.

FIG. 2.2a Vane anemometer with local readout.

be used as the input to a remote mounted indicator or recorder. The impeller design shown in Figure 2.2c is also provided with a shaft-driven tachometer. Because the tail of this impeller design always points the impellers into the wind, this instrument can detect both wind speed and wind direction.

2003 by Bla Liptk

2.2 Anemometers

175

The response speed of an anemometer is expressed in terms of the length of wind that has to pass through the meter before the velocity sensor response amounts to 63% of a step change in velocity. This is known as the distance constant and is generally expressed in feet. A typical distance constant for commercially available units is 6 ft (1.8 m).

DOPPLER ANEMOMETERS When sound or light is beamed into the atmosphere, any nonhomogenities in the air will reect these beams. The resulting Doppler shift in the returning frequencies can be interpreted as an indication of wind velocity. The acoustic Doppler devices are more often used than the laser types. They are particularly useful in air pollution monitoring applications. When laser-based Doppler anemometers are used, the intensity of the light scattered by the reecting particles in the air is a function of their refractive index and the size (up to 5 microns). At particle sizes under 5 microns, it is safe to assume that the particle velocity is the same as that of the air (gas or liquid). Often, the naturally present particles (especially in water) will guarantee satisfactory performance, but, to obtain perfect measurements, seeding is recommended. The operation of laser Doppler anemometers (LDAs) utilizes the Doppler effect or Doppler shift of frequency (color), which occurs as light is dispersed from the surface of moving particles. This shift in the frequency (color) of the light source (laser beam) is proportional to the velocity of the dispersing particles. Relative to the frequency of the light, this frequency shift is very small (from 1 kHz up to 0.1 MHz), and thus it cannot be directly measured. Therefore, an arrangement using the interference between the original and the refracted lights is used. This conguration is called the differential mode of the LDA. Figure 2.2e illustrates this principle, where beams from the laser source intersect each other in the measurement zone. In this zone, a set of interference plates are formed. When particles pass through these plates, they generate optical signals with ash frequencies equaling the Doppler frequency. This signal is then scanned by the photomultiplier and analyzed. The signal

THERMAL ANEMOMETERS The thermal owmeters are discussed in some detail later in this chapter and therefore are only briey mentioned here. The hot-wire anemometer (Figure 2.2d) operates as a heated thermopile that is cooled at a rate that is proportional to the air (or gas) velocity at the probe tip. It is available in ranges of 100 to 2000, 50 to 1000, and 20 to 500 ft /min (0.5 to 10.0, 0.25 to 5.0, and 0.1 to 2.5 m /sec, respectively).

Protection Guard Thermocouple Hot Junction Heater Circuit

All Junctions High Temperature Brazed

Thermocouple Wires Thermocouple Cold or Reference Junction

Element Base

FIG. 2.2d Hot-wire anemometer.

Photomultiplier

V Measuring Zone

Stop

125 m

V Laser Lenses Assembly

Refracting Prism

Lens

FIG. 2.2e Operation of the laser Doppler anemometer.

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Flow Measurement

Photomultiplier

162 m

Measuring Place Laser Stop Lenses Assembly F F

Refracting Prism

Lenses Assembly

FIG. 2.2f Operation of the laser two-focus anemometer.

has high frequency, several cycles, variable amplitude, and background noise. In addition to the anemometers using the laser Doppler principle, there also are laser anemometers utilizing twofocus and transmit time principles. The laser two-focus anemometer (L2F) measures the time needed for particles to pass between the known distance between two focused beams (Figure 2.2f). The signal consists of two pulses and is scanned by a photomultiplier. The processing is provided by an autocorrelator. The disadvantage of this method is that the probability is small that the particles will pass through both beams. On the other hand, the resulting measurement signal is stronger and has less background noise. Both types of noncontact Doppler measurements are suitable for nearly all hydrodynamic and aerodynamic velocity measurement applications. CONCLUSION For noncontacting velocity measurements, only the Dopplertype sensors can be considered. When locating other anemometers, the structures on which they are mounted are likely to disturb the airow. A rectangular building will disturb airow up to an elevation of about twice its height above grade, six times its height leeward, and twice its height in the windward direction.

In process industry installations, it is always a good idea to have wind direction indicators so the operators will always know which is the safe direction for escape in the event of a spill. Under such emergency circumstances, the knowledge of wind speed is of considerably less importance.

Bibliography
Anemometers, Meas. Control, June 1993. Baker, R. C., Flow Measurement Handbook, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2000. Cushing, M., The future of ow measurement, Flow Control, January 2000. Durrani, T. S., Laser Systems in Flow Measurement, Plenum Press, New York, 1977. Eren, H., Flowmeters, Survey of Instrumentation and Measurement, S.A. Dyer, Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2001. Laskaris, E. K., The measurement of ow, Automation, 1980. LeMay, D. B., A practical guide to gas ow control, Instrum. Contr. Syst., 1977. Liptk, B. G., Flow measurement trends, Control, June 2000. Lomas, D. J., Selecting the right owmeter, Instrum. Technol., 1977. MacCready, P. B. and Jex, H. P., Response characteristics and meteorology utilization of propeller and vane wind sensors, J. Appl. Meteorology, 1964. Miller, R. W., Flow Measurement Handbook, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996. Spitzer, D. W., Flow Measurement, 2nd ed., ISA, Research Triangle Park, NC, 2001.

2003 by Bla Liptk