Fulcrum3D Integrated noise and weather monitoring to protect your assets.
Accurate monitoring of background noise is useful in many applications, especially for confirmation of ongoing compliance with noise conditions in the operation of wind farms. Fulcrum3D offer solutions to meet this need.
In the development of wind projects in Australia, planning authorities continue to strengthen requirements, with many now requesting coincident measurement of wind speeds, rainfall, noise and other parameters at the planning stage. Measurement of these parameters is now required over longer time periods, increasing the need for robust monitoring systems designed for remote operation.
Wind farm noise prediction requires the coincident measurement of background noise levels at receivers together with local wind measurements, sometimes both at the wind farm site and at the receiver. Additional data such as rainfall measurements can help to isolate invalid data, allowing more accurate prediction of impacts.
Fulcrum3D provides all necessary noise and weather parameters in a single package. The system provides a number of advantages, which make noise measurements easier to manage:
- Fully automated and designed for remote operations;
- Integrated solar power supply providing non-stop power with more than seven days energy storage to cover cloudy periods – no more flat batteries;
- Communication via 3G/GSM or satellite means noise data is retrieved automatically and uploaded onto Fulcrum3D’s secure servers;
- Data access is available 24/7 over the web via FlightDECK;
- Includes a GPS receiver, acting both as a security device (protecting against theft) and also confirming exact installation locations;
- Access noise data, ensure correct operations, and even determine how many valid datapoints are available from your desk;
- Early identification of issues can save a significant amount of money, time and resource and avoid delays in documentation;
- Easy relocation of the unit – no battery swaps or data downloads required;
- Parameters are aggregated to meet compliance requirements and are time-stamped to internet time protocol;
- The logger sampling frequencies can be set from several hundred samples per second, with standard sampling at one sample per second.
The Fulcrum3D noise monitoring system is based around the DataVOLT™ platform and an industry standard noise logger. Additional weather sensors can be integrated for more detailed site investigations, including:
- Wind speed and direction;
- Rainfall (tipping bucket or capacitive plate);
- Temperature, pressure and humidity;
- Sound recordings (allowing data outliers or diurnal effects to be investigated).
Once operating, very often compliance reporting requires permanent wind and noise monitoring at a site:
- Compliance reporting for a site is generally required on the same basis as predictions;
- Continuous remote interrogation means correct operation can be checked remotely;
- In each case, instruments of various designs and classes can be supplied with calibration certificates.