Field Calibration of Wind Direction Sensor to the True North and Its Application to the Daegwanryung Wind Turbine Test Sites.docVIP

Sensors 2008, 8, 7783-7791; DOI: 10.3390/s8127782 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Field Calibration of Wind Direction Sensor to the True North and Its Application to the Daegwanryung Wind Turbine Test Sites Jeong Wan Lee Division of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Kangwon National University, 192-1, Hyoja2- dong, Chunchon, Kangwon-do, 200-701, South Korea; E-Mail: jwlee@kangwon.ac.kr; Tel.: +82-33- 250-6377; Fax: +82-33-257-4190 Received: 27 September 2008; in revised form: 27 November 2008 / Accepted: 26 November 2008 / Published: 3 December 2008 Abstract: This paper proposes a field calibration technique for aligning a wind direction sensor to the true north. The proposed technique uses the synchronized measurements of captured images by a camera, and the output voltage of a wind direction sensor. The true wind direction was evaluated through image processing techniques using the captured picture of the sensor with the least square sense. Then, the evaluated true value was compared with the measured output voltage of the sensor. This technique solves the discordance problem of the wind direction sensor in the process of installing meteorological mast. For this proposed technique, some uncertainty analyses are presented and the calibration accuracy is discussed. Finally, the proposed technique was applied to the real meteorological mast at the Daegwanryung test site, and the statistical analysis of the experimental testing estimated the values of stable misalignment and uncertainty level. In a strict sense, it is confirmed that the error range of the misalignment from the exact north could be expected to decrease within the credibility level. Keywords: Field Calibration; Wind Direction Sensor; Image Analysis and Processing; Uncertainty Analysis. 1. Introduction It is very important to correctly measure the wind whe