June 21st, 2010
So far this year, Otech has participated in presentations to prominent conferences regarding measurement quality and the wind industry.
Rachael Coquilla presented “Anemometer Calibration for Wind Energy Applications” in a podium presentation at the 2010 Measurement Science Conference held in Pasadena, California on March 25-26. This conference has been held annually for over 40 years and establishes a means of education regarding global measurement systems for instrument manufacturers, test and calibration laboratories, national metrology institutes such as NIST, and instrument buyers. As a newly ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, Otech introduced to this conference the level of measurement quality required in the wind industry. With the knowledge and feedback gained, Otech looks forward to future conferences and continued involvement.
For the 2010 European Wind Energy Conference held at Warsaw, Poland on April 20 – 23, Rachael presented a poster titled “Expanded Anemometer Calibration Uncertainty”. This presentation addresses the factors that affect anemometer calibration and quantifies the expanded uncertainty in sample calibrations performed for various anemometers commonly used in the wind industry. Although travel restrictions due to volcanic activity prevented Rachael from attending the event, the poster was still made available onsite and online to all participants, including a follow-up technical paper.
In the American Wind Energy Association’s 2010 Windpower Conference and Exhibition held in Dallas, Texas from May 23-26. Adam Havner presented a poster titled “Verification Testing of Sonic Anemometer Wind Speed Measurements for Wind Energy Applications”. The purpose of this presentation was to propose a method of calibration verification testing for sonic anemometers used for turbine control, site assessment, and wind plant operations. A corresponding technical paper is also available for more details.
The PDFs for these research posters, presentations, and papers can be found for download on our Research Page.
June 15th, 2010
On February 9, 2009, Otech received its ISO 17025-2005 accreditation. To better serve the needs of it’s customers, particularly in the wind energy industry, Otech is pursuing associate membership with MEASNET, the international Measuring Network of Wind Energy Institutes. Below is the timeline of events towards membership:
March 2009 Contacted MEASNET Executive Chair and submitted company profile for review
May 2009 MEASNET Executive Board accepted Otech Engineering request for membership
June 2009 Assessment Plan received from MEASNET Assessment Team
Sep/Oct 2009 Initiate MEASNET Anemometer Calibration Round Robin
June 2010 Received and tested MEASNET Anemometer Calibration Round Robin for inter-laboratory comparison
Final review for membership. Completion date unknown.
November 30th, 2009
Otech Engineering, Inc. received shipment of a new wind tunnel at their test laboratory in Davis, California. This is the third wind tunnel designed and built by Engineering Laboratory Design, Inc. of Lake City, Minnesota for Otech. The new tunnel is a suction type with an enclosed test section of size 0.61 m x 0.61 m x 1.22 m (2′ x 2′ x 4′). This third tunnel incorporates design features unique to the requirements of a high precision calibration test laboratory and will expand Otech Engineering’s test capacity significantly. Although assembled and running, Otech has a variety of verification and validation procedures to go through before it will be used for customer calibrations. Otech expects the third wind tunnel to be fully operational by early 2010. Update: The third wind tunnel is up, running, verified and validated!
September 20th, 2009
On September 20 at the Canadian Wind Energy Association’s 25th Annual Conference in Toronto, Canada, Rachael Coquilla, Chief Engineer at Otech Engineering, presented a poster titled “Review of Anemometer Calibration Standards”. This event is the largest had over 2,200 attendees.
Anemometers are key instruments heavily used in the wind industry and it is important to be familiarized with its calibration methodologies. This poster outlines the critical requirements and test protocols described by published calibration standards for rotating anemometers and for sonic anemometers. In addition to the poster, a supplemental detailed paper was also made available.
Click here for a pdf of the poster
Click here for a pdf of the paper
August 1st, 2009
Otech Engineering was featured in IAS eNews article on calibration labs. Read the article here: IAS News Article Vol 5 Issue 1.
