Tilt Sensors for Wind Direction

[Sling]

Hi, I'd like to get some opinions for an idea I've had to measure wind direction on a tilt angle.

It's common to find wind vanes that operate on the x-plane only, on a yaw (or pan) angle. To measure the tilt angle is problematic however, because of gravity. So if I were to construct a wind vane with a tilting axis, with tilt sensors such as these :

**broken link removed**

attached at different individual angles, this should be able to communicate with a PIC the angle of the tilt.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Diver300]

It would be far easier to use a single accelerometer, such as these:-

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR|MMA8450QT|ACCELEROMETER, DIG12BIT, 3-AXIS | Farnell United Kingdom

 

[3v0]

This is more old school.

Build a regular wind direction indicator but add horizontal wings to the tail. Balance the vane and mount it on a 2nd but horizontal axis.

If you do not need continuous reading use a gray code wheel.

 

[MikeMl]

How about one of these at Rock Springs, Wy?

**broken link removed**

Or how about this one at WhiteHorse, YT. The entire airplane pivots to indicate wind direction; the props turn based on wind speed.

**broken link removed**

ps: I've landed at both places)

 

[Gauthamvg]

Hi, I'd like to get some opinions for an idea I've had to measure wind direction on a tilt angle.

It's common to find wind vanes that operate on the x-plane only, on a yaw (or pan) angle. To measure the tilt angle is problematic however, because of gravity. So if I were to construct a wind vane with a tilting axis, with tilt sensors such as these :

**broken link removed**

attached at different individual angles, this should be able to communicate with a PIC the angle of the tilt.

Or am I missing something?

if you need an wind angle measurement , you can use a wind indicator with a simple modification in it.
**broken link removed**
use any one of the wind indicator shown above. Connect the rotating shaft to an potentiometer (full rotation pot). use an voltage differentiator circuit. there are two inputs in it v1 and v2. for v2 use another potentiometer to provide the reference voltage.connect v1 to the potentiometer connected to shaft.
initially place the wind indicator in north direction and callibrate the output of the differentiator as '0'. if the wind indicator changes its direction according to the wind, the potentiometer position also changes. hence there will be an change in the output of the differentiator. with that value you can easily find the direction i.e angle

 

[Sling]

Some good suggestions, thanks. Yeah I'm thinking of constructing something like that atm 3v0. Diver I'll definitely look further into accelerometers. I coudn't really use a wind sock to mount the device though, as the default position will need to be a level angle (ie not facing down).

Using a potentiometer is a fairly simple approach yes but that only works for a yaw angle, as the friction of the potentiometer combined with gravity will make this very difficult to implement on a tilt angle.

I'm interested in other types of 'wind indicator' though. I thought it was only possible to get wind vanes for direction, which operate on one plane only. Any suggestions where to get a wind indicator that gives the tilt angle (and isn't a wind sock)?

(Oh and lol MikeMl!)