Anti-freezing treatment of wind speed and direction sensors in winter climate
Wind observation mainly includes two types of wind speed observation and wind direction observation. In actual weather forecasting, wind speed and direction instrument failures are more common in new automatic weather station observation instruments. Whether it is a failure of the sensor itself or an overall failure caused by abnormal line connections, it will affect the accuracy of the automatic weather station.
Especially after rain or snow, the bearings of the mechanical wind speed and wind direction sensor are prone to ice at first, making it unable to rotate normally. This will cause the wind speed to be zero and the wind direction to be unchanged, resulting in the inability to record changes in external wind speed and direction, seriously affecting meteorological observations. . So next, this article will talk about the maintenance precautions, related solutions, and rain and snow prevention for wind speed and direction sensors in winter.
Wind Speed and Direction Sensor Freeze Prevention and Maintenance
After the wind speed and wind direction sensor has experienced rain or snow, relevant technical personnel should promptly deal with the water accumulated in the bearings of the equipment to prevent freezing. Of course, in most cases it is difficult for staff to solve the problem, which requires us to perform manual de-icing.
Wind speed and direction sensor freezing prevention
In order to prevent the wind speed and wind direction sensor from freezing after precipitation, the bearings of the wind cup and wind vane and the connection between the wind direction and wind speed sensor and the wind rod can be wrapped with thermal insulation cotton to avoid freezing. You can also apply antifreeze oil or antifreeze liquid to prevent the sensor from freezing. freeze.
Additionally, a wind arm heater can be added. The wind arm heater can keep the temperature within a certain range through the heater and play the role of heat preservation so that the wind direction and wind speed sensor will not be frozen and can operate normally.
However, the wind arm heater is easily damaged and expensive, and requires a transformer to connect to the 220 V power supply. Therefore, this method is only recommended for use in areas with easy access to power.
Wind speed and direction sensor maintenance after freezing
When it is found that the wind sensor is frozen, in order not to affect the hourly report, you can use a lightweight wind direction and anemometer. If there is no instrument that can be used, you can visually measure the wind direction and wind force, and estimate the wind speed in 8 directions according to the direction of the smoke or cloth strips. The Beaufort Wind Scale determines wind strength to ensure a complete record of observations.
At the same time, after reporting to the superior leaders, the wind speed and direction sensors were removed in time to check whether the bearings were frozen, and then heated to melt the ice.
In addition, to prevent water intrusion caused by dismantling and melting ice, the gap of the wind speed and direction sensor must be waterproofed, and then the wind speed and direction sensor must be reinstalled to ensure that the wind speed data returns to normal.
