Fulcrum3D Sodar uses proprietary technology housed in a robust and portable unit. What makes the Fulcrum3D Sodar unique includes:
Fulcrum3D Sodar is the best priced Sodar on the market. The flexibility of the Fulcrum3D Sodar and its optional equipment adds significant value to your development, operational performance or other applications.
ALL Fulcrum3D Sodar packages include these base functionalities
Suitable for mild winters where average temperatures are below zero, but snow is uncommon and good solar energy input is available.
Our standard hardware can be expanded to include additional solar and weather sensors.
Resource assessment – prospecting for sites and proving wind resource;
Power curve verification – confirming turbine performance in a variety of wind conditions;
Performance monitoring – maximise the long term performance of your asset;
Wind forecasting – for energy sales or optimising network integration.
The Fulcrum3D Sodar is unique in its design.
A standard Sodar works by sending out a sound pulse (beep) and listening to the returned sound signal as it’s scattered back towards the Sodar by atmospheric turbulence. You can listen to the sound pulse here. The principle, is similar to Radar.
The three sound beams of the Fulcrum3D Sodar allow a three dimensional wind vector to be measured. After the pulse is transmitted, the Fulcrum3D Sodar begins recording the returned sound signal and various filtering techniques are used to eliminate false data, background noise, errors introduced from rainfall and other factors.
The Fulcrum3D Sodar measures wind speed, direction and inflow angle in 10m height intervals from 40m to 200m above ground level, which aligns with the height of modern wind turbines. For each height range, data quality and other measurement statistics are calculated every 10 minutes.
The wind speed, direction, inflow angle, and height range are then calculated based on:
This wind vector is then translated into wind speed, direction, and inflow angle in each height bin. More complex analysis allows the wind speed standard deviation and turbulence index to be calculated. The Fulcrum3D Sodar transmits a sound pulse approximately every 1.5 seconds, giving a large number of samples which are then analysed to generate 10 minute statistics.
The Fulcrum3D Sodar is a portable unit, mounted on a standard box trailer, and powered by its own low-maintenance solar battery system. It is supplied with on-board remote telemetry, for a set-and-forget solution which reliably provides accurate data to your desktop.