Community: March 2007 Archives

Upperchurch is a windy location. How windy, well the washing is generally blowing at a 50 degree plus angle and since I insulated under the rafters the house is a lot warmer as excessive heat loss due to strong winds have been reduced. The key question still remains as to the exact nature of the wind. If this can be determined then one is in a better position to pick an effective and affordable wind turbine.

1 - Speed in meter per second
2- Rate of gusting
3 - Wind Direction.

If the avg wind speed is fairly high and consistent i.e. 6.5 meters plus then a lower capacity wind turbine may be an option. If the wind speed is erratic and less than 6.5 m/s then a higher rated turbine may be the only option as it produces more kilowatt hours at lower wind speeds.

In order to answer these questions an affordable anemometer and wind vane is required that has data logging capabilities. The Weather station Nexus seems to tick all the appropriate boxes. As the sensors are wireless the placement of the anemometer and weather vane at 10 meters is not such a big issue. It can record 3000 pieces of data and can be uploaded to a pc via a usb port. At a cost of 224 Euros including shipping it is the most affordable and is available from wml-weathershop.com Other features include

Its March so that means that Robocode is just around the corner. This years event which will take place on the Thurles campus of Tipperary Institute promises to be the biggest yet with the corporate backing of Lenovo. Third level colleges will battle it out to get their hands on a Lenovo laptop, projector, cash and gadgets. Second level schools will also be exhibiting as well as taking part in the jam packed day of events and competitions.

This year the audience competitions will feature around a well known game from 1985 with some serious prizes from creative labs up for grabs.

For more details please visit www.robocode.ie