Full Scale Anemometer

"The ability to determine air pollutant emission quantity and emission rate are extremely important for environmental protection, policy making, and law enforcement. A pollutant emission rate can be determined by calculating the product of the airflow rate from an exhaust fan and the composition of the pollutant in the air. The pollutant may be any number of things, including particulate matters, gases, volatile organic compounds (VOC), odors, etc. Therefore, in obtaining reliable and accurate emission rate data the airflow rate from the emission sources as well as the pollutant concentration are equally important. Pollutant concentration measurement instruments have undergone dramatic development in the past decades and have become more advanced. However, accurate emission rate measurement equipment is still a major technical and economic obstacle. The existing emission rate monitoring techniques are either inaccurate, unreliable, inconvenient to use, or prohibitively expensive. A preliminary fan ventilation anemometer was conceptualized and preliminarily tested at Purdue University Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. This Phase I effort will be conducted as a collaborative effort between SkySight Technologies and the Purdue University Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. To fill the technological gap in the area of air pollution monitoring and control, this Phase I study proposal presents a novel concept for a new state-of-the-art anemometer. The proposed device is capable of providing direct, continuous measurement at a greater level of accuracy than currently available through emission rate monitoring systems. Because measuring the air flow rate at some sources occurs in extremely corrosive operating environments, such as at concentrated animal feeding operations, the proposed anemometer design endure that harsh operating conditions do no negatively impact the performance or accuracy of the system. In addition, the design requires minimal or no maintenance. The conceptual design is lighter in weight, less expensive, and has a lower operating cost than existing technologies. In contrast to other systems which can cost $11,500 the initial cost of the proposed system is expected to be approximately $800. For commercialization, the proposed anemometer can be configured to multiple different ventilation fan diameters, allowing its use a and endless number of pollutant emission sources, including concentrated animal feeding operations, factories, oil facilities, or any were air pollutants are emitted from exhaust fans. The device is also suitable for the research and study of pollution emissions and for permanent installation at an emission source. Keywords: Anamometer, Direct, Continuous, Airflow Rate, Emission Rate, Pollution, CAFO "