This application claims priorities under the Paris Convention to Chinese Patent Application No. 201811276576.5, filed Oct. 30, 2018, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention relates to the field of wind measurement, more particularly to a wind measurement apparatus based on 3D (three dimensional) non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array.
There have many kinds of anemometers used in various industries, and their working principles and measuring performances are different. Among them, the mechanical anemometers, such as cup anemometer and propeller anemometer, are most commonly used. The mechanical anemometer has some advantages, such as low cost, long history, universal use, perfect theory and measurement data. However, due to the existence of rotating parts in mechanical anemometer, it is easy to wear and tear, and at the same time, bad weather, dust and salt spray will cause corrosion. Because of friction, the minimum start-up wind speed still exists in mechanical anemometer, that is, the breeze below the minimum start-up wind speed cannot be measured. In addition, due to the different average methods of wind speed (scalar average and vector average), it still has “excessive effect”, resulting in low measurement accuracy and restricted application fields.
With the rapid development of electronic industry, many new wind measurement apparatuses have emerged, for example laser anemometer, ultrasonic anemometer, highly integrated micro-electro-mechanical anemometer, hot-wire anemometer, Doppler anemometer. Generally speaking, these kinds of anemometers are small in size, long in service life and relatively high in measurement accuracy, moreover, have no mechanical rotating parts, therefore no special maintenance is needed during use. For the reason of above-mentioned advantages, they are gradually replacing the mechanical anemometer. And among them, ultrasonic anemometer is one of the most outstanding anemometers. It not only has simple structure and excellent durability, but also can achieve high measurement accuracy. However, the higher computing and processing capacity is required in corresponding processing circuit.
Ultrasonic wave refers to the acoustic signal which frequency is more than 20 kHz. It can propagate in the medium in the form of mechanical wave. For the characteristics of air flow are carried in the parameters such as velocity and frequency of the ultrasonic wave which propagates in air carry, ultrasonic wave can be used to measure the speed of wind. The working principle of ultrasonic anemometer is that: the transmitting circuit generates a high-voltage pulse to excite a acoustic transducer to transmit a ultrasonic signal. At the receiving end, a ultrasonic transducer based on piezoelectric effect is used to convert the ultrasonic signal into a electrical signal. After processing the electric signal, the wind speed can be extracted by measuring its time and frequency information. Compared with mechanical anemometer, its advantages mainly lie in the following aspects:
1). Ultrasonic anemometer is non-contact measurement and has little influence on the measured wind field;
2). Wind measurement is not affected by inertia and mechanical friction resistance, which is helpful to measure low speed wind;
3). There is no rotational inertia, and the measurement results will quickly respond to the wind speed;
4). Wind measurement is not affected by mechanical wear; Ultrasonic anemometer is easy to maintain, and can work stably in harsh environment for a long time.
It can be seen that the accuracy, measurement range and response speed of ultrasonic anemometer are better than those of mechanical anemometer. Common wind measurements based on ultrasonic wave and their working principle, advantages and/or disadvantages are shown in Table 1.
Comparing with other commonly used ultrasonic wind measurements, from Table 1, it can be seen that the time-difference measurement has the advantages of simple principle, easy realization and less influence by environmental factors. Therefore, the time-difference measurement is often considered in wind measurement.
Ultrasonic wave propagates in winds of different speeds, and its travel time is affected by wind speed. For the two arrival times (travel times) of ultrasonic wave under the conditions of downwind and upwind are not consistent, thus, the time-difference between the two arrival times occurs on the same propagating path. According to the time-difference of propagation and the distance between transmitting sensor and receiving sensor, the speed of the wind passed through the channel between transmitting sensor and receiving sensor can be measured through the time-difference. The wind speed of each channel in space is calculated in turn, and the speed and direction of the wind can be obtained by vector synthesis.
To obtain the speed and direction of the wind, as shown in
As shown in
where Vx is the speed along the west-east direction.
Similarly, for the direction of south-north, the travel time from the south to the north is t1, the travel time from the north to the south is t2, then there has the following relationship:
where Vy is the speed along the south-north direction.
According to formula (1) and formula (2), the wind speed V and angle φ can be obtained. the way of calculation is extended to three-dimensional space, then there have the following relationships:
where Vz is the speed along the lower-upper direction, θ is the pitch angle of the wind under measurement.
According to formulas (3), the speed V, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind under measurement can be obtained.
Despite of simple working principle, easy realization in technology, wind measurement apparatus based on traditional 3D (three-dimensional) orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array isn't the best solution, it has larger measurement errors, due to the turbulence generated by the arrangement of the orthogonal ultrasonic sensors.
The present invention aims to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and provides a wind measurement apparatus based on 3D (three dimensional) non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array, so as to reduce the generation of turbulence, enhance the wind measurement accuracy and obtain accurate wind speed and wind direction.
To achieve these objectives, in accordance with the present invention, a wind measurement apparatus based on 3D (three dimensional) non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array is provided, comprising a 3D non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array, a computing module and a comparator, wherein:
the 3D non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array comprises eight ultrasonic sensors, the first four ultrasonic sensors are mounted at one side, the arrangement of the first four ultrasonic sensors is that one is at the center, the other three around it and form a equilateral triangle;
the second four ultrasonic sensors are mounted at the opposite side, the arrangement of the second four ultrasonic sensors is that one is at the center, the other three around it and form a equilateral triangle, the arrangement of the second four ultrasonic sensors is the centrosymmetric arrangement of the first four ultrasonic sensors;
the symmetry point of the first four ultrasonic sensors and the second four ultrasonic sensors is O, the angle formed by connecting any two ultrasonic sensors at a side to the symmetry point O is less than 90%;
two central ultrasonic sensors respectively at two sides form a central channel, the other ultrasonic sensor at one side and its centrosymmetric ultrasonic sensor at the opposite side form a measurement channel, thus three measurement channels are obtained; where the central channel is along the west-east direction or south-north direction, the wind speed measured by central channel is vref, the wind speeds measured by three measurement channels are v1, v2 and v3 respectively;
the computing module calculates the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind under measurement according to the wind speeds v1, v2 and v3, then the speed component vcentral along central channel of the wind under measurement is obtained according to the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ;
the comparator compares the speed component vcentral with wind speed vref measured by central channel, if the difference of the speed component vcentral and wind speed vref is less than a present threshold, the measurement results, i.e. the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind are correct, the comparator lets the computing module output the measurement results, or the measurement results are not correct, the comparator lets the computing module discord the measurement results.
The objectives of the present invention are realized as follows:
In the present invention, i.e. a wind measurement apparatus based on 3D (three dimensional) non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array, the ultrasonic sensor array is composed of two group of ultrasonic sensors, which are centrosymmetrically located at opposite sides, and the angle formed by connecting any two ultrasonic sensors at a side to the symmetry point O is less than 90°, the arrangement of 3D non-orthogonal ultrasonic sensor array reduces the generation of turbulence, thus, the accurate wind speed and wind direction is obtained. In the mean time, the central channel is employed to obtain a reference wind speed vref. Comparing the speed component vcentral along central channel of the wind under measurement with the reference wind speed vref, if the difference is less than a present threshold, then computing module outputs the measurement results, or discards them, thus the wind measurement accuracy is further improved.
The above and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the similar modules are designated by similar reference numerals although they are illustrated in different drawings. Also, in the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may obscure the subject matter of the present invention.
In one embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
In the embodiment, As shown in
The second four ultrasonic sensors 1-2, 1-4, 1-6, 1-8 are mounted at the opposite side, the arrangement of the second four ultrasonic sensors 1-2, 1-4, 1-6, 1-8 is that one is at the center, the other three around it and form a equilateral triangle, the arrangement of the second four ultrasonic sensors 1-2, 1-4, 1-6, 1-8 is the centrosymmetric arrangement of the first four ultrasonic sensors 1-1, 1-3, 1-5, 1-7.
In the embodiment, as shown in
The symmetry point of the first four ultrasonic sensors 1-1, 1-3, 1-5, 1-7 and the second four ultrasonic sensors 1-2, 1-4, 1-6, 1-8 is O, the angle formed by connecting any two ultrasonic sensors at a side to the symmetry point O is less than 90°.
Except the central ultrasonic sensor 1-7, the angle formed by connecting any two ultrasonic sensors at northern side (N) to the symmetry point O is 60°, thus the ultrasonic sensors 1-1, 1-3, 1-5 and the symmetry point O form a regular triangular pyramid. Similarly, except the central ultrasonic sensor 1-8, the angle formed by connecting any two ultrasonic sensors at southern side (S) to the symmetry point O is 60°, thus the ultrasonic sensors 1-2, 1-4, 1-6 and the symmetry point O form another regular triangular pyramid.
Two central ultrasonic sensors 1-7, 1-8 respectively at two sides (northern side and southern side) form a central channel, the other ultrasonic sensor 1-1, 1-3, 1-5 at one side (northern side) and its centrosymmetric ultrasonic sensor 1-2, 1-4, 1-6 at the opposite side (southern side) form a measurement channel, thus three measurement channels are obtained, where the central channel is along south-north direction (or the west-east direction), i.e. from the ultrasonic sensor 1-8 to ultrasonic sensor 1-7, the wind speed measured by central channel is vref, the wind speeds measured by three measurement channels are v1, v2 and v3 respectively
In the embodiment, as shown in
The computing module calculates the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind under measurement according to the wind speeds v1,v2 and v3, then the speed component vcentral along central channel of the wind under measurement is obtained according to the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ.
In the embodiment, as shown in
Then, based on geometric knowledge, the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind under measurement can be obtained according to the following equations:
The comparator compares the speed component vcentral with wind speed vref measured by central channel, if the difference of the speed component vcentral and wind speed vref is less than a present threshold, the measurement results, i.e. the speed v, azimuth angle φ and pitch angle θ of the wind are correct, the comparator lets the computing module output the measurement results, or the measurement results are not correct, the comparator lets the computing module discord the measurement results.
In the embodiment, as shown in
In the embodiment, as shown in
In the embodiment, as shown in
While illustrative embodiments of the invention have been described above, it is, of course, understand that various modifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Such modifications are within the spirit and scope of the invention, which is limited and defined only by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201811276576.5 | Oct 2018 | CN | national |