General Information

Serial #

40380

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

Wind monitor

Patents

N/A

General Description

synthetic body, shaft, propeller and parts/ metal clamp and parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

56.5 cm

Width

17.8 cm

Height

37.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Meteorology

Category

Surface wind speed & direction measurement

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Young

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Michigan

City

Traverse City

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1990 - 2004; this example is hand marked 2003; this instrument was apparently in use for six years (Ref. 6)

Canada

An example of an instrument used for measuring wind speed by the Meteorological Service of Canada at observing sites across Canada. The RM Young Wind Monitor is used at most of the datalogger based automatic weather stations and on all buoys amounting to hundreds of installations in Canada. The Wind Monitor has been used since 1990 and in 2004 was the most widely used anemometer in the service (Ref. 1). This example is hand marked 'Hurricane Isabel', which affected Lake Ontario and Ontario in September 2003 (Ref. 5). Part of a large collection of meteorological instruments acquired from the Meteorological Service of Canada (previously Atmospheric Environment Service) by the CSTM since 1967. MSC is the government agency responsible for collecting and disseminating meteorological data and forecasts in Canada. It was founded in 1871 in Toronto where it is still headquartered. The MSC was originally on the University of Toronto downtown campus but moved to Downsview in 1971 on land owned by UofT. The headquarters houses laboratories, research facilities and calibration and instrument maintenance facilities (now largely contracted out).

Function

An instrument that measures wind speed by means of a rotating propeller and wind direction by means of a wind vane, transmitting the data to a separate indicator.

Technical

An example of a propeller type anemometer, still available for purchase in 2006 (Ref. 4). The wind speed sensor is a four blade helicoid-shaped propeller. Propeller rotation produces an AC sine wave voltage signal; the frequency is directly proportional to the wind speed. The AC signal is induced in a transducer coil by a six-pole magnet mounted on the propeller shaft. The wind direction sensor is a vane with a sufficiently low aspect ratio to assure good quality fidelity in fluctuating wind conditions. Vane angle is sensed by a precision potentiometer, the output voltage is directly proportional to vane angle (Refs. 3-4). It is called a ‘prop and vane' anemometer because it has a propeller on the front of a vane that directs the propeller into the wind. With the passage of 29 cm of air the prop will rotate once and will produce three alternating pulses. The speed error is accurate to ±0.6 mph up to 30 mph and ±2% above that to a maximum of 134 mph. The propellers distance constant (the 63% response distance) is 2.7 metres. A 360 degree potentiometer measures the wind direction with an error of ±3 degrees. There is a blank section called a 'deadband' between 355 and 360 degrees that has to be removed by processing. This is possible because surface wind direction will vary continuously over a range of 20 to 40 degrees. Also to remove direction ambiguities caused by averaging, the N-S and E-W vectors are calculated and all subsequent computations are done on these vectors. This causes some errors at very low wind speeds. Prop and vane anemometers suffer from the yaw error. This is caused when a gust occurs because the direction of a gust veers about 30 degrees from the general surface wind and the vane cannot respond in time. The speed will also be reduced slightly since the direction of the gust is off the main axis of the propeller. These anemometers are also more susceptible icing than cup anemometers (Ref. 1).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

white lettering on black ground on either side of vane reads"YOUNG' / beige and black label on junction box reads "[logo]/ YOUNG'/ incised lettering on junction box reads '40380'/ handwritten lettering on vane reads 'FM 45148/ C.O.. WOODS/ DEC 05/03/ 1st YEAR RS' and '40380/ FROM 45159/ DEC 08/03/ HURRICANE/ ISABEL REPL.'

Missing

appears complete

Finish

white vane and body/ black head, propeller, shaft, junction box/ plated clamp

Decoration

N/A