Patent Application
20080034861
With reference now to
In accordance with at least one alternative embodiment of the present invention, the reference sensor device 104 may be located remotely with respect to the anemometer system 100. More specifically, the reference sensor device 104 may not even be associated with a flow shield such as the base plate 116. Rather, the reference sensor device 104 may be in a completely separate area that is not subject to the fluid flow.
The flow sensor devices 108a-d are housed in support structures 112a-d respectively that serve as fluid flow shields for the flow sensor devices 108a-d. The support structures 112a-d are depicted as being oriented uniformly around the circumference of the base plate 116 such that the fluid flow from a certain direction in the plane of the base plate 116 is at least partially blocked from reaching a flow sensor device 108 by its support structure 112. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the configuration of the flow sensor devices 108 relative to one another may be adjusted both within their plane and out of plane with respect to one another without departing from the inventive aspects of the present invention.
By partially blocking the flow in different directions to a flow sensor device 108, information regarding a direction of the fluid flow relative to the anemometer system 100 can be obtained from taking differences between the temperatures of the various flow sensor devices 108. A known algorithm may be employed to determine fluid flow direction.
Although the anemometer system 100 is depicted as having four flow sensor devices 108, one skilled in the art will appreciate that a greater or lesser number of flow sensor devices 108 may be employed to determine fluid flow speed and direction. In the most degenerate case, a single flow sensor device 108 may be used to determine fluid flow speed. In another embodiment, two flow sensor devices 108 may be used to determine fluid flow speed and fluid flow direction relative to a single axis. In still another embodiment, three flow sensor devices 108 may be employed to determine fluid flow speed and fluid flow direction relative to two axes. A greater number of flow sensor devices 108 may be employed for redundancy and to increase the accuracy with which fluid flow direction and speed can be determined. In addition, shielded and unshielded flow sensor devices 108 can be used in combination.
The flow sensor devices 108a-d can also be spaced apart in a non-uniform fashion around a common circumference. Such a configuration of flow sensor devices 108a-d may be useful in applications where fluid flow direction is considered less important to determine and fluid flow distribution (e.g., fluid flow dynamics in a pipe or the like) is of more interest.
In addition, an unshielded flow sensor device 108 may be provided for sensing fluid flow speed only. An embodiment of the anemometer system 100 may provide an unshielded flow sensor device 108 in addition to partially shielded flow sensor devices 108. The combination of unshielded and partially shielded flow sensor devices 108 can be used to provide information regarding the fluid velocity (i.e., speed and direction).
Although the sensor device 104, 108 is depicted and described as a diode, other semiconductor devices may be employed as sensor devices 104, 108. One example of a semiconductor device that may be employed in lieu of the first diode 320 is a transistor, such as a bipolar junction transistor. Another example of a semiconductor device that may be employed is a Zener diode that conducts current when a reverse voltage is applied thereto. In addition, non-semiconductor devices may be used as sensor devices 104, 108. For example, the sensor devices 104, 108 may comprise common resistors or thermistors.
The cathode side of the first diode 320 is connected to the inverting input 328 of the operational amplifier 316 at a second node N2. Also connected to the second node N2 is a first resistor 324. The opposite side of the first resistor 324 is connected to a common voltage point, such as ground. Generally speaking, however, the common voltage point may comprise any potential that is lower than can be output from the operational amplifier's 316 output.
The output of the analog-to-digital converter 304 is connected to the input of a microcontroller 308. The output of the microcontroller 308 is connected to a digital-to-analog converter 312 that converts the digital output of the microcontroller 308 back into an analog wave form or signal suitable as an input to the non-inverting input 332 of the operational amplifier 316. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the analog-to-digital converter 304 and/or the digital-to-analog converter 312 may be internally located within the microcontroller 308.
The microcontroller 308 is adapted to read the output of the operational amplifier 316 via the analog-to-digital converter 304 and determine the voltage drop across the first diode 320. The voltage drop across the first diode 320 is output at a data output 340, which provides a signal that can be converted into a temperature of the sensor and thus a flow rate of an ambient fluid. Alternatively, the microcontroller 308 may convert the voltage readings into temperature values and output the temperature values and provide signals indicative of the measured temperature values at the data output 340. As still another example, the controller 308 can calculate the rate of fluid flow and provide that information at the data output 340.
The voltage at the output 336 of the operational amplifier 316 (i. e., the voltage at the first node N1) is equal to the summation of the voltage at the non-inverting input 332 VREF and the voltage drop across the first diode 320. Based on this relationship, the microcontroller 308 is able to determine the voltage drop across the first diode 320 by determining the difference between the output 336 voltage of the operational amplifier 316 and the known voltage at the non-inverting input 332 VREF. In a constant-current mode of operation, the variable voltage drop across the first diode 320 is used to determine fluid flow speed, whereas in a constant-temperature mode of operation, the difference between the output voltage 336 and VREF is held constant and the variations of VREF are used to determine fluid flow speed.
The microcontroller 308 also acts to control the voltage applied to the non-inverting input 332 of the operational amplifier 316 (i.e., VREF). In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, in a constant-current mode of operation, the microcontroller 308 maintains the voltage VREF at a constant value to maintain a constant current at the output 336 of the operational amplifier 316. By maintaining a constant voltage at the non-inverting input 332, the voltage at the inverting input 328 (i.e., VN2) also remains constant. Because the voltage at the non-inverting input 332 is held constant and because the value of the first resistor 324 is a fixed value, the current through the first resistor 324 is maintained at a constant value. This causes a constant current to be provided to the first diode 320. This constant-current mode of operation differs from the operation of previous CPAs in that current through the first resistor 324 is maintained at a constant value, instead of maintaining the power dissipated by the circuit elements at a constant value.
The forward voltage drop of the first diode 320 varies as the temperature about and/or flow of fluid past the first diode 320 changes. The voltage at the output 336 of the operational amplifier 316 varies in response to these resistance changes of the first diode 320 since the value of both voltage inputs and thus the current output by the operational amplifier 316 remain the same. The microcontroller 308 receives at its input the value of the output voltage 336 of the operational amplifier 316, knows the digital-to-analog converter 312 output voltage VREF, and from these known values determines the voltage drop across the first diode 320. The voltage drop across the first diode 320 can then be correlated to a fluid temperature or rate of fluid flow.
In accordance with other embodiments of the present invention, the microcontroller 308 may operate the circuit 300 in a constant-temperature mode. In a constant-temperature mode of operation, the microcontroller 308 adjusts the current output by the operational amplifier 316 to keep the first diode 320 at a desired temperature. By keeping the first diode 320 at a constant temperature, the forward voltage drop of the first diode 320 remains constant. The fluctuations in power required to maintain this temperature, measured via changes in VREF, are used to determine the fluid flow speed across the first diode 320.
In accordance with still other embodiments of the present invention, the microcontroller 308 may operate the circuit 300 in a hybrid mode. In the hybrid mode of operation, the microcontroller 308 causes the first diode 320 to be operated within a predetermined temperature window and maintains a constant current through the first diode 320. The microcontroller 308 may selectively and dynamically change the operational mode of the circuit 300 depending upon the changes in conditions about the circuit such as temperature and fluid flow speed without having to change any configuration of circuit 300 elements.
The number of source operational amplifiers 416 in the first set (ie., N) may be greater than or equal to two, while the number of instrumentation operational amplifiers 428 in the second set (i.e. M) is equal to N−1, where N and M are both integers. A first set of resistors 424a to 424N are provided, each corresponding to a source operational amplifier in the first set of operational amplifiers 416a to 416N. These resistors 424 are used to control the current flowing through the diodes 420a to 420N. The voltage applied across each resistor 424a to 424N is substantially the same. The values of the resistors 424a to 424N are substantially the same, thereby allowing the same constant current to be provided therethrough. Therefore, in a constant-current mode of operation, the same current is provided to each of the diodes 420a to 420N. By providing the same amount of current to the reference sensor 104 as the flow sensors 108, the reference sensor 104 can be used to provide a baseline voltage drop for the ambient fluid temperature while voltage drop across the flow sensors 108 will reflect the fluid flow in addition to fluid temperature. Accordingly, the difference between the voltage drop across a flow sensor 108 and the voltage drop across the reference sensor 104 will be indicative of the fluid flow.
Additionally, a second set of resistors 432a to 432M are provided, each corresponding to an instrumentation amplifier in the second set of operational amplifiers 428a to 428M. The resistors 432a to 432M are used to set the gain of each instrumentation amplifier 428a to 428M.
The circuit 400 operates in a similar fashion to the circuit 300 depicted in
The instrumentation amplifiers 428a to 428M provide, as an output, the difference between the voltage across the reference diode 420a and the voltage across each corresponding diode 420b to 420N; this difference is multiplied by a gain factor related to the value of resistor 432. For example, the second instrumentation amplifier 428b provides, as an output, an amplified difference between VOUT3 and VOUT1. As such, the ambient temperature is accounted for in the output of the instrumentation amplifiers 428a to 428M, which are then provided to the input of a corresponding analog-to-digital converter 404a to 404M and subsequently to the microcontroller 408 as input.
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the outputs of each analog-to-digital converter 404a to 404M are supplied to the microcontroller 408 in separate data paths as depicted. However, in accordance with alternative embodiments of the present invention, the outputs of the each analog-to-digital converter 404a to 404M may be provided to the microcontroller 408 via a common data bus where the outputs of each converter 404a to 404M maintain a logical separation on the bus but are otherwise provided to the microcontroller 408 over the same input port or channel. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, analog-to-digital converters with multiple input channels could replace the single channel analog-to-digital converters shown.
The microcontroller 408 outputs the data received from each instrumentation amplifier 428a to 428M. The microcontroller 408 also ensures that a substantially constant voltage is applied to each non-inverting input of the source operational amplifiers 416a-N in the constant-current and hybrid mode of operation. Since the microcontroller 408 knows and controls the input to each operational amplifier 416a to 416N and knows the output voltage at each instrumentation operational amplifier 428a to 428M, the microcontroller 408 can determine the voltage drop across each diode 420a to 420N due to fluid flow, all while maintaining a constant current through each resistor 424a to 424N.
The operational amplifier 516 produces the same output as before, namely the reference voltage output by the digital-to-analog converter 512 plus the voltage drop across the first diode 520. The second resistor 528 is connected to the output of the operational amplifier 516, which in turn is connected to the base region of the transistor 532. The collector region of the transistor 532 may be connected to a voltage source +V that helps boost the signal output at the emitter region. The output at the transistor 532 emitter region is supplied to an analog-to-digital converter as in
The operational amplifier 616 produces the same output as before, namely the reference voltage output by the digital-to-analog converter 612 plus the voltage drop across the first diode 620. The second resistor 628 is connected to the output of the operational amplifier 616, which in turn is connected to the base region of the first transistor 632. The collector region of the first transistor 632 may be connected to a voltage source +V that helps boost the signal output at the emitter region. The output at the first transistor 632 emitter region is supplied to the base region of the second transistor 636. The collector region of the second transistor 636 may be connected to another voltage source +V that further boosts the signal output at the emitter region. The source voltage +V supplied to the second transistor 636 may be the same as the source voltage +V supplied to the first transistor 632, although such a configuration is not required. For example, the first transistor 632 may be supplied with a source voltage +V of a first amount while the second transistor 636 may be supplied with a source voltage +V of a second different amount. The output of the second transistor 636 is supplied to an analog-to-digital converter as in
While the sensor device 108 is exposed to the fluid flow, a selected amount of current is supplied to the sensor device 108 (step 708). The amount of current supplied to the sensor device 108 may be selected depending upon the type of fluid, the type of sensor device 108 employed, the ambient temperature of the fluid, and the optimal temperature operating range of the sensor device 108. The selected amount of current is supplied to the sensor device 108 via a current source such as an operational amplifier. The amount of current provided to the sensor device 108 may be selected based on a trial-and-error basis where a first current amount is supplied to the sensor device 108 and the reaction of the sensor device 108 (e.g., the voltage drop across the sensor device 108) to the first amount of current is determined, then a second current amount is supplied to the sensor device 108 and the reaction of the sensor device 108 to the second amount of current is determined and based on the comparison of the reactions one of the two current amounts, or some third current amount, is selected as the current that will be provided to the sensor device 108 during the constant-current mode of operation. In another embodiment, the amount of current provided to the sensor device 108 may be determined a priori based on temperature of the fluid about the sensor device 108.
The current supplied by the current source is controlled by the amount of voltage applied to the current source (e.g., VREF). In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a controller such as the microcontroller 308, 408 may maintain the voltage applied to the current source at a constant value, thereby ensuring the amount of voltage supplied at the current source's inverting input is also constant.
The voltage drop across the sensor device 108 is measured while the selected amount of current is supplied to the sensor device 108 (step 712). The voltage drop across the sensor device 108 is determined by monitoring the voltage at the output of the current source. In particular, the voltage drop across the sensor device 108 is monitored to determine the changes in voltage and subsequently the changes in temperature of the sensor. Based on the changes in temperature of the sensor device 108 the fluid flow may be determined by the controller 308, 408. As the voltage across the sensor device 108 changes in response to temperature and flow changes, the voltage output of the current source changes.
The changes in voltage across the sensor device 108 are monitored by the controller 308, 408, and in response to such changes, the voltage supplied at the output of the current source adjusts to compensate (step 716). The current source compensates for the changes in voltage across the sensor device 108 to maintain a constant current through the fixed resistance and therefore a constant current through the sensor device 108 (step 720). If the current through the sensor device 108 is maintained at a constant level, then any changes in resistance due to temperature changes will result directly in voltage changes. The voltage changes across the sensor device 108 can be used to determine temperature changes and thus fluid flow rate. The method then returns to step 712 to continue measurement of the voltage drop across the sensor device 108.
A sensor device 108 is then exposed to a fluid flow (step 804). As noted above, multiple sensor devices 108 may be exposed to the fluid flow. Furthermore, another sensor device 104 may be immersed in the fluid but completely protected from the fluid flow.
Next, the amount of current required to maintain the sensor device 108 within the temperature window is determined (step 812). The operating current required to maintain the sensor device 108 within the predetermined temperature window will also vary based upon the type of sensor device 108 employed. Knowing the value of the fixed resistance 324, 424 used to maintain a constant current and the desired power, the desired amount of current can be determined.
The amount of current provided to the sensor device 108 will also vary based on the environment in which the anemometer system 100 is employed. Advantageously, the use of different temperature windows can be employed such that a single circuit can be utilized in a number of different situations without requiring the reconfiguration of the circuit or replacement of circuit elements.
Once the proper operating current has been selected, the determined amount of current is supplied to the sensor device 108 via a current source (step 816). A controller 308, 408 sets the amount of voltage provided to the non-inverting input of the current source, which in turn sets the amount of power and current provided to the sensor device 108. As fluid flows past the sensor device 108 heat is removed from the sensor device 108, thereby changing the internal resistance or forward voltage across the sensor device 108 and dissipating power in the form of heat. As long as the sensor device 108 is maintained in the temperature window, the current supplied to the sensor device 108 does not vary. If the temperature of the sensor device 108 falls outside of the predetermined temperature window, then a new current will have to be selected.
While controlling the current source, the controller 308, 408 also measures the voltage drop across the sensor device 108 (step 820). The voltage drop across the sensor device 108 may be determined with a direct measurement or by measuring the output voltage of the current source and subtracting the voltage supplied to the current source. As the controller 308, 408 continues to cause this determined current to be provided to the sensor device 108, the circuit treats measurements of voltage as that from a constant-current type system. The voltage drop across the sensor device 108 can then be used to determine fluid speed (step 824). The use of a predefined operating window in this hybrid mode is advantageous because a lookup table or simple math can be employed to determine the fluid speed. The lookup table can be used since the sensor device 108 is being maintained within the predetermined temperature window and is being supplied a substantially constant current.
The controller 308, 408 monitors the changes in voltage across the sensor device 108. Additionally, the voltage supplied to the current source is maintained at a substantially constant value to ensure that the predetermined current is provided to the sensor device 108 (step 828). The method then returns to step 808 where the controller 308, 408 continues to cause the determined amount of current to be provided to the sensor device 108.
If at any point it is determined that measurement data is no longer required, the control voltage supplied to the current source can be reduced or zeroed to effectively let the anemometer rest. This rest period can be used to conserve power consumption and maximize the period of time that the anemometer system 100 can be used without having to replace batteries or the like. This is particularly useful in remote applications where access to the anemometer system 100 is limited or difficult. Moreover, the controller 308, 408 may control the timing of rest periods and sensing periods to further manage power consumption.
The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Further, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Consequently, variations and modifications commensurate with the above teachings, within the skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain the best mode presently known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such or in other embodiments and with various modifications required by their particular application or use of the invention. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include the alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art.
This Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/837,436, filed Aug. 11, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60837436 | Aug 2006 | US |
