Wind Energy
Wind Assessment, Wind Prospecting, & Wind Turbine Performance
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If you need to measure wind speed and wind direction to help determine whether your site is a good candidate to harvest wind power, Campbell Scientific can help you. We offer high-speed data loggers for monitoring wind turbine power and performance. To complete your system, we also offer a wide range of towers, sensors, and software that can be customised for your wind assessment or wind turbine performance needs.
Our data acquisition systems monitor conditions at wind assessment sites, at producing wind farms, and along transmission lines. Key components include data loggers, sensors, and communications devices, which are customised for each application.
System Benefits
- Systems perform long-term, unattended data collection.
- Nearly every available sensor can be measured.
- Data Loggers have on-board mathematical and statistical capabilities.
- Time-stamped data is recorded allowing historical analyses.
- Pagers, radios, phones, and other devices can report alarm conditions.
- Electrical devices can be controlled based on time or measured parameters.
- Rugged, low power design allows systems to operate in harsh environments.
Data Loggers
Our data loggers can be used for many different purposes. They can make and record measurements, control electrical devices, or both. Their multifaceted capabilities include functioning as PLCs or RTUs. They have many different channel types, allowing nearly all sensor types to be measured on a single unit. For example, one data logger can measure strain on turbine blades, wind speed, and power output of the turbine, even while controlling peripheral devices. The CR1000 with an LLAC4 peripheral can measure up to 10 low-level ac output anemometers. If long cable runs are being avoided, our CR200-series data loggers can be deployed in a wireless network configuration, allowing cost effective monitoring at each level of a wind assessement tower.
The reliability of our systems ensures data collection, even under adverse conditions. Wide operating temperature ranges and weather-proof enclosures allow our systems to operate reliably in harsh environments. Because they have their own power supply (batteries, solar panels), our data loggers continue to measure and store data and perform control during power outages. Up to 2 million data points can be stored in the data logger's non-volatile memory, while Flash cards can be used to increase data storage to tens of millions of points. Data is time- and date-stamped to provide key information for identifying and analyzing past events.
Measurement Capabilities
Channel types include analog (single-ended and differential), pulse, switched excitation, and digital. Not only are there multiple types of input channels, but each of these channels can be independently programmed for various sensor types. Most sensors connect directly to the data logger, eliminating the need for external signal conditioning. Multiplexers and other peripherals can be used with most of our data loggers to increase the numbers and types of channels.
Control Capabilities
The ability of our data loggers to perform advanced control functions is a great advantage. Powerful on-board instruction sets allow unattended measurement and control decisions based on time or conditional events. Using these instruction sets, data loggers can be programmed to perform multiple control functions based on different scenarios. For example, alarms can be triggered, phone numbers dialed, or equipment shut down if the system detects an equipment failure—all without human intervention.
Sensors
Almost any sensor can be measured by our data loggers, allowing the system to be customised for each application. Typical sensors include, but are not limited to: sonic anemometers, 3-cup and propellor anemometers, wind vanes, temperature sensors (air, water, equipment, and product), solar radiation, electrical current, resistance, power, and voltage.
Communications
The availability of multiple telecommunications and on-site options for retrieving data or reporting site conditions also allows our systems to be customised to meet exact needs. Options include: radio, telephone, cellphone, voice-synthesized phone, satellite, and ethernet. Systems can be programmed to send alarms or report site conditions by calling out to computers, phones, radios, and pagers.
Software
Our PC-based support software simplifies the entire data acquisition process, from programming to data retrieval to data display and analysis. Our software automatically manages data retrieval from networks or single stations. Robust error-checking ensures data integrity. We can even help you post your data to the Internet.
Towers
IsoTruss (Brigham City, Utah) offers 50, 60, or 82 meter tilt-up towers. These towers are built from carbon fiber, which is very strong and lightweight. Wind sensors can be mounted anywhere along the length of the tower, and are not limited to the the top-most section of the tower. IsoTruss towers are also rated for up to 1/2" of ice for their standard towers, and offer a line of towers that are rated to perform in icy conditions. Campbell Scientific offers sensor mounting options for IsoTruss and other towers.
If you need assistance selecting the best wind sensor, tower, telecommunications, and data logger combination, please contact us. We'd be happy to answer your questions and provide the most cost-effective solution for your needs.
If you would like to view your options for wind speed sensors, please visit our sensor pages, or contact one of our applications engineers.
