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How do you make the wind blow indoors?

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So if you want to have a demo that uses an anemometer to measure wind speeds - how do you make it work indoors where there is no wind? This is a problem that John Leier (Technical Product Manager for the .NET Micro Framework) and Jim Mateer (Program Manager for the .NET MF) took on as a challenge. Inspired by all the creative fun here at Maker Faire they came up with the idea of using a DC motor to spin the "cups" of the anemometer. With changes in the speed of the motor you can simulate various wind speeds.

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 19, 2008
    While not as fun or creative, a fan could have worked :P

  • Anonymous
    October 22, 2008
    Well, a fan seems like a good idea. In fact, that is waht we tried first. However there are several issues with that. It's hard to carry around a fan big enough to make much of an impact on the anememoter. Even with a little muffin fan it's a challenge to mount it in a way that is easy to transport and setup and still have an impact on the anemometer. Thus the team investigated other more "creative" options.