Daniel Alfonso-Corcuera

In the present paper, the effect of air density variations on cup anemometer performance is analyzed. The effect on the sensor’s performance is mainly due to the difference between the altitude at which the cup anemometer is working and the altitude at which this instrument was calibrated. Data from the available literature are thoroughly analyzed, focusing on explaining the coupled effect of the air temperature on both the rotor’s friction torque and the air density (that is, related to the aerodynamic torque on the rotor). As a result, the effect of air density variation at constant temperature (that is, leaving aside any variation of friction forces at the anemometer rotor shaft) on the sensor transfer function (i.e., on the calibration constants) is evaluated. The analysis carried out revealed a trend change in the variation with air density of the transfer function of the cup anemometer. For densities greater than 0.65, the calibration constants of the instrument have a variation with density that must necessarily change suddenly as the start-up speed, represented by the calibration constant B, becomes zero around this value of air density. To highlight the relevance of the present research, some estimations of the effect of wind speed measurement errors associated with air density changes on the Annual Energy Production (AEP) of wind turbines are included. A 1.5% decrease in the AEP forecast at air density corresponding to 2917 m above sea level is estimated for 3000–4500 kW wind turbines.