AUTOMATED DATA LOGGING INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM FOR WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION MEASUREMENTS

Abstract

Due to emergence of microcontrollers which enable real-time logging, viewing and analysis of data, many new generation data acquisition products have been developed. There is an increasing demand for an improved, efficient and up-to-date microcontroller-based data logger.In this study, a microcontroller-based data logger was developed to measure the wind speed and direction using anemometer and wind vane sensors respectively. The collected data was transmitted to a Personal Computer (PC) through an RS-232 serial interface, which was processed using the 208W Data logger support software and stored in EEPROM memory for post process analysis. In order to test the effectiveness of the logger, wind data measured by the microcontrollerbased data logging system were analyzed through plotted line graphs, simple linear regression charts and wind rose diagrams.The correlation indices for the two three sets of wind speed data in the morning, mid-day and evenings were 0.997, 0.997 and 0.999 respectively. The wind speed measured by the calibrated sensor correlated well with JKUAT Meteorological data. The strong correlation indicated that developed system was effective and appropriate for measuring wind speed and direction. The system being automated, accurate, appropriate and at the same time cost effective, has potential use in weather forecasting, wind power plants, chemical manufacturing process and in airports among other applications. Further studies can be done to find the relationship between the wind speed and the frequency response of the encoder by use of a wind tunnel.