skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Airfoil Anemometer With Integrated Flexible Piezo-Capacitive Pressure Sensor
Demand is expected to accelerate for autonomous air vehicles that transport people and goods, making wind sensors on these vehicles and in the air space where they operate critical to ensure safe control of many simultaneous take-offs and landings. Conventional anemometers such as pitot tubes as well as rotating, heated-element, acoustic, and drag technologies have drawbacks for small and micro-aerial vehicles including high power consumption, high aerodynamic drag, complex signal processing, and high cost. This paper presents an airfoil-shaped anemometer that provides low drag while integrating sensors for measuring wind speed and direction on tethered kites, balloons, and drones. Wind speed is measured by an integrated dual-layer capacitive pressure sensor with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) diaphragm while wind direction is measured by a 3D digital magnetometer that senses the orientation of the airfoil relative to the earth’s magnetic field. A model is presented for a dual-layer capacitive sensor and validated through quasistatic pressure chamber testing. The capacitive sensor as well as a commercial digital magnetometer are integrated into a NACA 2412 profile airfoil and tested in a laboratory-scale wind tunnel. The capacitive sensor provides a sensitivity of 1.84 fF m 2 s −2 and the airfoil exhibits a unique stable angle-of-attack to within ±2° as measured by the magnetometer.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1738723
PAR ID:
10338506
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Materials
Volume:
9
ISSN:
2296-8016
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; (, Molecules)
    Sensitive and flexible pressure sensors have invoked considerable interest for a broad range of applications in tactile sensing, physiological sensing, and flexible electronics. The barrier between high sensitivity and low fabrication cost needs to be addressed to commercialize such flexible pressure sensors. A low-cost sacrificial template-assisted method for the capacitive sensor has been reported herein, utilizing a porous Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer and a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite-based dielectric layer. The sensor shows high sensitivity of 2.42 kPa−1 along with a low limit of detection of 1.46 Pa. The high sensitivity originates from adding MWCNT to PDMS, increasing the composite polymer’s dielectric constant. Besides this, the pressure sensor shows excellent stability at a cyclic loading of 9000 cycles, proving its reliability for long-lasting application in tactile and physiological sensing. The high sensitivity of the sensor is suitable for the detection of small deformations such as pulse waveforms as well as tactile pressure sensing. In addition, the paper demonstrates a simultaneous contact and non-contact sensing capability suitable for dual sensing (pressure and proximity) with a single data readout system. The dual-mode sensing capability may open opportunities for realizing compact systems in robotics, gesture control, contactless applications, and many more. The practicality of the sensor was shown in applications such as tactile sensing, Morse code generator, proximity sensing, and pulse wave sensing. 
    more » « less
  2. (, Environmental Data Initiative)
    15-minute summary data at NPP G-IBPE met station. Average/maximum/minimum air temperature; average relative humidity and wind direction; average/maximum wind speed; atmospheric pressure; PAR; solar radiation. These are measured and calculated based on 1-second scan rate of all sensors located at an automated meteorological station installed at Jornada LTER NPP G-IBPE site. Wind speed is measured at 75 cm, 150 cm, and 300 cm, wind direction at approximately 3m, and air temperature and relative humidity at approximate 2.5m. This climate station is operated by the Jornada LTER Program. This is an ONGOING dataset. 
    more » « less
  3. (, Environmental Data Initiative)
    15-minute summary data at NPP G-IBPE met station. Average/maximum/minimum air temperature; average relative humidity and wind direction; average/maximum wind speed; atmospheric pressure; PAR; solar radiation. These are measured and calculated based on 1-second scan rate of all sensors located at an automated meteorological station installed at Jornada LTER NPP G-IBPE site. Wind speed is measured at 75 cm, 150 cm, and 300 cm, wind direction at approximately 3m, and air temperature and relative humidity at approximate 2.5m. This climate station is operated by the Jornada LTER Program. This is an ONGOING dataset. 
    more » « less
  4. (, Environmental Data Initiative)
    5-minute summary data at NPP M-WELL met station. Average air temperature, wind speed and wind direction are measured and calculated based on 1-second scan rate of all sensors located at an automated meteorological station installed at Jornada LTER NPP M-WELL site. Wind speed is measured at 75 cm, 150 cm, and 300 cm, wind direction at approximately 3m, and air temperature at approximate 2.5m. This climate station is operated by the Jornada LTER Program. This is an ONGOING dataset. 
    more » « less
  5. (, Environmental Data Initiative)
    5-minute summary data at NPP M-WELL met station. Average air temperature, wind speed and wind direction are measured and calculated based on 1-second scan rate of all sensors located at an automated meteorological station installed at Jornada LTER NPP M-WELL site. Wind speed is measured at 75 cm, 150 cm, and 300 cm, wind direction at approximately 3m, and air temperature at approximate 2.5m. This climate station is operated by the Jornada LTER Program. This is an ONGOING dataset. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email