RoboPIV – The future of optical flow measurements

Challenge

• Wind tunnel time is costly and needs to be used efficiently
• Calibration and repositioning of measurement equipment takes too long
• Measurement system needs to be fully automated but keep the flexibility

Solution

Particle Image Velocimetry measures the flow velocity and direction by using a high power laser and 2 cameras. Every time the relative position between the laser and any of the cameras is changed, a new time intensive calibration needs to be performed.
By mounting the laser and cameras on 3 SIA20 robots, we are able to move all components in a synchronized way. Like this, the flow around the complete car can be measured by keeping the relative position of laser and cameras equal.
The PIV system is fully controlled by the wind tunnel system. The measurement position is given by the engineer and the rest is done fully automatically: positioning laser and cameras, starting camera acquisition, calculating velocity data and so on.

Result

• No loss of time in the wind tunnel for calibration
• Full flexibility for the measurement position
• High speed robot movement reduces the measurement time significantly
• PIV can be efficiently used at any time in the wind tunnel
• Fully automated measurements reduce the manpower needed to support