Development and testing of a system for remote wind speed sensing

Abstract

The main parameter in the field of wind energy is the wind speed, being able to measure it in an autonomous way allow to know the wind resource in remote areas, an also providing greater efficiency in the task of operating and studying wind turbines. Measuring a parameter with much variability as wind speed presents various challenges such as the capacity to take enough samples, the capacity to ensure the validity of the measurements and the requirement of an accessible place to record these measurements. This work develops a low-cost solution applying the Internet of Things to measure and logging wind speed data while seeking to solve the above challenges. In this design a cup anemometer was linked to an ESP32 microcontroller and using a computational algorithm programmed in C was responsible for determining the wind speed and publishing the result on the Internet in real time. A commercial anemometer was used, and the manufacturer’s software was replaced by an own solution. The validation tests required by the design were performed using the wind tunnel of the Universidad de Costa Rica. This work result in the construction of a system with the ability to record wind speed data in real time, as well as a basis for a more complete system in the study of additional parameters in the operation of wind turbines.