Acoustic Measurement of Wind Turbines

[Wolfie1976]

I need to measure the sound levels in an outdoor environment, at the top of a wind turbine. This is for a research project. I would like some SPL vs. Frequency charts for various operating conditions. I need these exported as a CSV file format.

My partners are putting some kit in the nacelle of the turbine. It includes a Windows PC that they can remotely log in to. The kit will be in situ for a couple of months, during which we will want to periodically log in remotely and take some measurements. Obviously, the microphone will be exposed to the elements during this period. Most environmental monitoring equipment seems to be standalone kit, which would require a human presence to operate. This wouldn't work as we can't get to the equipment. Specifically I’m looking for a windows based software platform to monitor a microphone and produce SPL charts from. I came across Room Eq Wizard through a google search, and I'm thinking that it might be suitable for my purposes.

Do you think that I could use REW and a suitable outdoor microphone for my purposes? And can you recommend a microphone that would work for this? I like the look of the miniDSP but I’m guessing I’d need to waterproof it somehow.

I would be grateful for any advice you can offer.

Thank you,

Ben

 

[John Mulcahy]

You could use the SPL logger to capture data to file if you need results over long periods. Can't help with mic suggestions, sorry.

 

[pklose]

The miniDSP mics are not made for harsh environments (at least following the specs). In my experience high and low temperatures are not really a problem, but high humidity shorts the capsules of condenser mics, which leaves you with no signals.

ACO makes good quality harsh environment mics. If you can get them with a conditioner into a normal audio interface you can record the signal with ocenAudio or Audacity. For an offline SPL analysis you could use MOSQITO (https://www.minidsp.com/applications/acoustic-measurements/psychoacoustic-measurements-with-mosqito)

If the budget allows: For long period and outdoor SPL Measurements the stuff from NTi is really recommended.