17 Development of a Low-Cost, 3D Printed, Aspirated Air Temperature Measurement Radiation Shield

Faculty Mentors: Eric Pardyjak and Rob Stoll (Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah)

Accurate measurement of ambient air temperature is critical to numerous applications. This task is complicated by solar radiation which can heat the air-temperature sensor body, causing it to record temperatures in excess of the true air temperature. The traditional way to protect against this interference is to house the sensors in passive radiation shields which block the majority of solar radiation. However, past research indicates that significant solar radiation can still penetrate shield designs, causing measurement errors under low-wind conditions. An alternative method is to aspirate the sensor using a fan to force air movement over the sensor body. Aspirated temperature sensing units are commercially available, but they can be expensive and consume a significant amount of power. We designed and rigorously tested a low-cost, low-power aspirated temperature sensing unit designed to integrate with any low-cost distributed sensor platform. The design uses a freely available, custom designed 3D printed housing that enables rapid assembly. The new, open source unit performed as well as passive shields and commercial aspirated shields of significantly higher cost. This success shows the potential of leveraging 3D printing technologies for designing other housing units.