Flexible LC-Type Wind Speed Sensor With Its Readout Circuit

A novel flexible LC-type wind speed sensor, as well as its readout circuit, is proposed in this paper. Two inductors are designed on both surface of the flexible substrate, connecting by a parallel plate capacitor. Hence, substrate bending induced by wind can change the total inductance, then shifting the resonant frequency of this LC-type speed sensor. The readout circuit is designed and realized on the PCB board. The LC-type sensor is tested in the wind tunnel and the readout circuit outputs the frequency spectrum. The experiments demonstrate that the resonant frequency increases with the wind speed up to 25m/s. The measured sensitivity is close to 39.8kHz/(m/s), 50.8kHz/(m/s) and 57.7kHz/(m/s) for the sensor with windward height of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm, respectively. Although large windward height can improve the sensitivity, it's easy to saturate and the maximum detectable speed is reduced.