Etesian technologies Breeze User manual

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Logger Users Manual

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Theory of Operation 1

Setting Up the Sensor 2

Connecting the Receiver/Logger 3

Outputs 5

Appendix A 7

List of Figures

Figure 1 Wireless, Self Powered Anemometer Block Diagram 1

Figure 2 Cross Sectional Sketch (1 of 3 cups drawn) 2

Figure 3 Receiver Connections and Controls 3

Figure 4 Optional Screw Terminal assignment 4

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Installation Instructions for Model 101 and 201 Anemometer/Receiver/Logger

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing the Etesian Technologies wireless, self powered anemometer.

Etesian's anemometer is designed for long life and trouble free use. With a small amount of

planning and set-up, you should have an accurate, reliable and convenient wind sensor. Each

sensor utilizes a conventional 3 cup design. The cups are conical in shape and molded of high-

impact polycarbonate. The entire cup assembly is affixed to a beryllium copper shaft, which

rotates on two self-lubricating bearings. The advantages of wireless connectivity are self-evident.

The advantages of self-contained eternal power is also self-evident!

Theory of Operation

Each anemometer contains a small AC generator. This AC generator provides power for the

signal conditioning circuitry and RF transmitter. Additionally the frequency of the AC generator

is directly related to the rotational speed of the anemometer cups and likewise the speed of the

wind being measured. The signal-conditioning circuitry contains an event counter that totalizes

the number of whole waveforms occurring in a fixed interval of time, approximately 1 second.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the generator, signal-conditioning and RF transmitter.

Pulse

Shaper

Pulse

Counter

Micro

controller

900 MHz

tranmitter

V+

Armature

Stator

Permanent Magnet

Generator

Rectifier

Diodes

Figure 1 Wireless, Self Powered Anemometer Block Diagram

Every second, the microcontroller fetches the accumulated count from the pulse counter, formats

a data packet and initiates a 40 millisecond transmission to the receiver. The receiver decodes

the packet. This packet includes the sensor’s ID number, a sequence number, and the wind

speed data. If you have purchased the optional wind direction sensor, its data is included in the

packet as well.

The receiver/logger stores data on a USB flash drive. Data stored on this flash drive can be

downloaded via the logger’s serial port or by simply shutting the logger off, removing the flash

drive and reading the flash drive with any PC with a USB port.

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Setting Up the Sensor(s)

Land Based

Good judgment will provide accurate measurements of the winds. This includes making sure

there are no obstructions to the wind you are trying to measure. For land based measurements,

especially for wind resource assessments, installing the sensor at the prospective wind turbine’s

hub height is ideal. This may not be practical depending upon the turbine hub height. In any

case be sure that the anemometer is 30 feet above any obstacle within a 100 ft radius of the

sensor. When mounting to the side of a tower, a boom of 3 to 6 feet in length will minimize the

effect of tower shadow. It should be oriented such that the sensor is upwind of the tower in the

direction of the predominant winds.

Marine

Getting good measurements on boats or ships requires mounting on top of the highest mast. The

sensor’s size and weight should not present any appreciable load on an existing mast.

Mechanical Dimensions

The sensor has a 1/2 inch diameter mounting hole. A cotter pin and Phillips head screw will

firmly attach the sensor to a suitable 1/2 inch bar or tube. See Figure 2.

Sensor Antenna Orientation

Keep the sensor’s antenna away from metal objects. Preferable orientation would be to place the

sensor at the end of the boom with the antenna pointing straight to the side. The antenna should

NOT point toward or away from the receiver and its antenna, but should be sideways to it.

101-D Orienting the Direction Vane

If you purchased the 101-D, install the sensor with the ½inch horizontal mounting hole

facing due south if possible. By doing so the readout will properly indicate wind direction. If

you cannot install with the mounting hole facing south, note the angular difference. This may be

entered in the configuration settings as an offset so that the readout will subtract this offset and

display the true wind direction properly.

Figure 2 Cross Sectional Sketch (1 of 3 cups drawn)

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Connecting the Receiver

Power

Power requirement are 9 to 28 VDC 125 mA. The power jack on the receiver is a standard

circular DC power jack with a 2.0 mm center pin and 5.5 MM O.D. Be sure the plug is fully

inserted. There is a slight click as it snaps into place when fully seated.

Antenna

An SMA connector is located on the bottom side of the receiver. In most instances, with clear

paths up to 150 feet between the sensor and receiver, a simple “rubber duckie” stick antenna

should be suitable. If your path is longer you may need an external antenna. A higher gain

antenna will require an adapter cable. All RF cables introduce signal loss. Plan carefully to

minimize the length of this cable. Several lengths are available from Etesian. Lengths longer

than 50 feet are not recommended. If your situation requires a longer cable please contact

Etesian for recommendations for low loss cable. If your system includes a Yagi aim the Yagi

directly toward the sensor. The Yagi antenna elements should be in a horizontal orientation. If

your system includes an external whip or stub antenna, align it horizontally if possible. Some

experimentation in placement and orientation may be necessary.

Serial Data

The receiver includes a 9 pin RS-232 serial port. A standard straight cable will connect the

receiver to a PC serial port. Most laptops that have serial ports will have a 9 pin D connector.

Refer to Figure 3 below.

9 Pin D Power Jack Antenna connector

USB (FLASH DRIVE ONLY ! )

Figure 3 Receiver Connections and Controls

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However, many modern laptops do NOT include serial ports. Etesian sells USB to serial adapter

cables should your computer have USB ports instead.

USB Port

The USB port ONLY accommodates a USB flash memory device. Never insert a USB cable, or

any other type of USB device. Doing so will damage the logger.

Wired Sensors (Optional – not included on all models)

The breeze logger can accommodate wired sensors as well as the Etesian’s wireless sensor.

Many types of sensor are compatible. Anemometers from NRG, Second Wind, RM Young, and

Met One, among others are all compatible. AC generator based sensors connect directly to the

pulse input. Reed switch type sensors will require the addition of 4.7 Kohm pull-up resistor

connected between the +3.3 V out terminal and the Pulse In + terminal.

Potentiometer based wind direction vanes are connected to the 3 direction screw terminals as

shown in Figure 4 below. Your unit’s screw terminal will be labeled appropriately depending

upon the purchased options.

Figure 4 Optional screw terminal connector back view

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Output Signals

Display

The local LCD display will indicate the wind speed and the wind direction. The wind speed is

shown on the top line of the display. When the unit is first turned on, the display will scroll the

company banner. A looping arrow will display until the first sensor packet is transmitted. The

first reading will indicate “???”. After the unit has received two consecutive transmissions,

which takes about 2 seconds, the display will indicate the proper wind speed, and will then

update on 1second intervals.

Wind Trigger Relay (Optional)

Units with the optional wind trigger relay provide one set of normally open relay contacts rated

at 28 volts and 0.5 amp maximum. These may be utilized for control or alarm functions. The

relay has 3 settable parameters: Actuation wind speed, release wind speed and number of

samples required for actuation. For example, setting the relay to actuate at 20 MPH, release at

17 MPH and to require 3 samples at those set points might be a typical setting. The release

speed must always be less than the actuation speed, and the number of sample packets can be set

from 1 to 21 samples. Number of samples must always be a uneven number, i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7 etc.

These settings must be entered in MPH. All internal calculations are in MPH. The display may

be set for any units without disturbing the alarm settings.

Analog Outputs (Optional)

There are three analog outputs. Two are voltage outputs, 0 to 3 VDC, and one a single TTL

level pulse output. Units equipped with the analog outputs can be configured such that the

analog outputs represent metric or English units. When configured for English units the pulse

output is 1 Hz per MPH, one voltage output is 0 to 3 volts representing 0 to 100 MPH, and the

second voltage output is 0 to 3 volts representing 0 to 360 degrees wind direction. When

configured for metric units the pulse output is 1 Hz per m/s, the voltage output is 0 to 3 volts = 0

to 50 m/s, and the second voltage output is 0 to 3 volts =s 0 to 360 degrees wind direction.

Serial Port

A standard 9 pin serial connector enables logger management, data download, and real-time data

display. All these features can be accomplished with a terminal session. Windows users would

typically use Hyperterminal, Macintosh users typically the freeware Zterm. Set the terminal

parameters to 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and no parity.

If you type stream, the logger streams the real-time data. Here is a snippet:

$ stream

Press <Esc> to exit

2010/7/23,12:39:30,5,18.1 mph,-999

2010/7/23,12:39:30,5,19.7 mph,-999

2010/7/23,12:39:31,5,19.7 mph,-999

2010/7/23,12:39:32,5,19.5 mph,-999

2010/7/23,12:39:32,5,19.7 mph,-999

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Moving Data to your PC

Data is preserved on a USB flash drive. On the averaging interval, you will see a bright LED

situated just to the right of the LCD display light momentarily as data is being written to the flash

drive. Never remove the flash drive when the LED is lighted. Doing so will corrupt the data

file. For instance, f you are taking 10 minute averages, then the data will be written on the hour

and at 10 minute intervals. Removing the drive from the logger at 10:05, for instance, would

give you 5 minutes to copy the files to your computer and re-insert into the logger without loss of

a data record.

Log Files

Wind data is saved to the USB flash drive as a text file of comma (,) separated data. Each day is

concluded with an individual “day file.” The day file is named with the day’s date i.e.

20100824.CSV indicates that the file is the data recorded on August 24 2010.

File contents

Below is a snippet of data from a logger programmed to take one minute averages on a single

wind speed sensor:

date

time

ws_14_n

ws_14_mean[mph]

ws_14_sd

ws_14_min

ws_14_max

8/11/10