Digital wind-speed meter
First Claim
1. A digital wind-speed meter having a freely-turning turbine inside a turbine housing, having openings for the passage of fluid through said housing, said turbine containing a coaxial cylinder having reflecting and non-reflecting surface areas on its periphery, the rotational velocity of said cylinder being determined by a digital optical tachometer that receives light reflected from said cylinder.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved digital wind-speed meter based on a digital optical tachometer (20) that may also be used independently to measure the angular velocity of propellers or fans. The improved wind-speed meter consists of a turbine (1) mounted between two bearings (4, 5) and containing a polished metal cylinder (3) with alternate reflecting and non-reflecting peripheral regions to change the light reflected by lamp (12) into a light guide, e.g. plastic rod (14), which conducts light to the digital optical tachometer. The turbine head, containing a mounting tube (15) may be rotated about this tube'"'"'s axis to change the direction of the display relative to the wind direction. By changing the direction of the display in this way, the wind-speed meter provides easier and more convenient use than existing wind-speed meters when measuring the wind speed produced by fans or propellers, or the airspeed of wind-propelled craft such as sailboats and gliders.
13 Citations
13 Claims
- 1. A digital wind-speed meter having a freely-turning turbine inside a turbine housing, having openings for the passage of fluid through said housing, said turbine containing a coaxial cylinder having reflecting and non-reflecting surface areas on its periphery, the rotational velocity of said cylinder being determined by a digital optical tachometer that receives light reflected from said cylinder.
- 7. A digital wind-speed meter having a turbine inside a turbine housing, the ends of said turbine being exposed for the entry and exit of fluid, said turbine containing an electrically conducting cylinder coaxial with the turbine axis and having alternate reflecting and non-reflecting surface areas on its periphery, the rotational velocity of said cylinder being modified by eddy currents induced in said cylinder by one or more magnets in close proximity to the cylinder, and said rotational velocity being determined by a digital optical tachometer that receives pulsating light reflected from said cylinder.
Specification