This is the main page of the senior project for developing a spindown tester for NRG Systems of Hinesburg, VT. The purpose of this page is to give insite to the viewer on the various systems of the project as well as progess in the development of those systems.

The Problem

The project's intent is to develop a tester and technique to determine if a NRG #40 anemometer is suspect to a rotational failure due to bearing failure, mishaped or deformed parts, contamination inclusion, or any other interference. These failure modes can cause an inaccurate reading of air speed by the sensor.

The test requirements include a 2 minute test window per sensor. As the current tester design only has one senser being run at a time, it is possible with the hardware chosen to test multiple sensors at once for maximized throughput.

The Proposed Solution

The solution we chose was to develop a bench or tabletop system that could be rack-mounted if desired that the user would manually load with a sensor and intiate the test from a computer screen or touch-screen. The tester would spin the sensor up as well as collect data and return the data to the same screen that the user initaited the test from. The user would then see the raw output of the sensor, a calculated speed-time curve and a visual PASS/FAIL notification. The data would then be stored in a formatted file in a specified network location and an entry of the test would be made in a database that would give a general overview of the test as well as a link to the saved formatted file. The unit would also reset and allow the operator to run another test.

This is an image of our system diagram.

Please feel free to look around. If you have questions please contact either Matt Nusbaum or Morgan Muren and we would be happy to answer your questions.