Design and Performance Evaluation of a Portable Arduino-Based Cup Anemometer with Variable Rotor Geometry
Hadi Nasbey, Shantyka Virgita Aldina, and Umiatin

Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Wind speed measurement plays a critical role in meteorology, environmental monitoring, aviation systems, and renewable wind energy applications. Conventional cup anemometers are widely used due to their simplicity and reliability- however, studies investigating the combined influence of rotor geometry parameters on measurement performance remain limited. This study proposes a low-cost modular cup anemometer system based on Arduino Uno integrated with a Photointerrupter H92B4 for real-time wind speed measurement. The novelty of this work lies in the development of a detachable rotor mechanism that enables interchangeable testing of multiple rotor geometries, including variations in arm number (three-arm and four-arm configurations) and cup shape (hemispherical and conical designs). Experimental evaluation was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions using a blower and wind tunnel system to ensure stable airflow conditions. The developed instrument was characterized through rotational calibration, wind speed validation, relative error analysis, and sensitivity evaluation against a reference anemometer. Experimental results showed that the three-arm conical rotor achieved the best overall performance with the lowest relative error of 0.47%, while the four-arm hemispherical rotor produced the highest error of 1.27%. The three-arm hemispherical rotor exhibited the highest sensitivity value of 0.6359, followed by the four-arm conical rotor (0.5047), three-arm conical rotor (0.4841), and four-arm hemispherical rotor (0.474). The findings demonstrate that rotor geometry significantly influences anemometer performance and highlight the potential of modular low-cost wind sensing systems for portable atmospheric monitoring and small-scale engineering applications.

Keywords: cup anemometer- wind speed measurement- Arduino Uno- photointerrupter sensor- rotor geometry

Topic: Instrumentation and Computational Physics