# US 10,120,964 B2 · Method of evaluating wind flow based on conservation of momentum and variation in terrain

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- Number: US 10,120,964 B2
- Document ID: US10120964B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/880,905
- Filed: 2018-01-26
- Published: 2018-07-26
- Granted: 2018-11-06
- Earliest claimed: 2015-05-29
- Assignees: One Energy Enterprises LLC
- Applicants: One Energy Enterprises LLC
- Inventors: Elizabeth Walls
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10120964B2

## CPC

- G06F 30/20: Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30)
- G01P 5/00: Measuring speed of fluids, e.g. of air stream; Measuring speed of bodies relative to fluids, e.g. of ship, of aircraft (application of speed-measuring devices for measuring volume of fluid G01F)
- G01P 13/045: {with speed indication}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G01P: MEASURING LINEAR OR ANGULAR SPEED, ACCELERATION, DECELERATION, OR SHOCK; INDICATING PRESENCE, ABSENCE, OR DIRECTION, OF MOVEMENT (measuring or recording blood flow A61B5/02, A61B8/06; monitoring speed or deceleration of electrically-propelled vehicles B60L3/00; vehicle lighting systems adapted to indicate speed B60Q1/54; determining position or course in navigation, measuring ground distance in geodesy or surveying G01C; combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement G01C23/00; measuring velocity of sound G01H; measuring velocity of light G01J7/00; measuring direction or velocity of solid objects by reception or emission of radiowaves or other waves and based on propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effect, propagation time, direction of propagation, G01S; measuring speed of nuclear radiation G01T; measuring acceleration of gravity G01V; {measuring or recording the speed of trains B61L23/00; speed indicators incorporated in motor vehicles B60K35/00; measuring frequency or phase G01R; traffic control G08G})

## Abstract

A method of modeling the spatial variation in wind resource at a prospective wind farm site. The method involves a simplified analysis of the Navier-Stokes equation and utilizes data from all of the met sites simultaneously to develop site-calibrated models. The model coefficients, mUW and mDW, describe the sensitivity of the wind speed to changes in the upwind and downwind terrain exposure and are defined for downhill and uphill flow. The coefficients are a function of terrain complexity and, since terrain complexity can change across an area, the estimates are performed in a stepwise fashion where a path of nodes with a gradual change in complexity is found between each pair of sites. Also, coefficients are defined for each wind direction sector and estimates are performed on a sectorwise basis. The site-calibrated models are created by cross-predicting between each pair of met sites and, through a self-learning technique, the model coefficients that yield the minimum met cross-prediction error are found.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of predicting wind speed at one or more target sites comprising the steps of:
measuring a wind speed and a direction at two or more meteorological towers;
defining a location of said one or more target sites;
calculating exposure at the two or more meteorological towers and at said one or more target sites;
using a default wind flow model to predict a wind speed at each of the two or more meteorological towers based on the wind speed measured at a different one of said two or more meteorological towers and difference in exposure between the two or more meteorological towers and calculating an error in the predicted wind speeds for each of the two or more meteorological towers;
altering the default wind flow model based on the calculated errors to derive a site-calibrated wind flow model that results in minimized errors in the predicted wind speeds for each of the two or more meteorological towers; and
applying the site-calibrated wind flow model using the measured wind speed at each of the two or more meteorological towers and difference in exposure between each of the two or more meteorological towers and said one or more target sites to predict a wind speed for said one or more target sites.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the default wind flow model comprises coefficients relating change in wind speed to change in exposure.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the default wind flow model comprises different coefficients for uphill wind flow, downhill wind flow, and wind flow speed-up over a hill.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the default wind flow model comprises coefficients relating change in wind speed to change in upwind exposure and to downwind exposure.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the default wind flow model comprises different coefficients for uphill wind flow, downhill wind flow, and wind flow speed-up over a hill.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of;
calculating terrain complexity at the two or more meteorological towers and at said one or more target sites;
calculating a difference in terrain complexity between the two or more meteorological towers and each other and between the two or more meteorological towers and said one or more target sites;
comparing said differences in terrain complexity to a predetermined value; and
if each of the differences in terrain complexity exceeds the predetermined value, creating a path of nodes between the respective meteorological towers or between a respective meteorological tower and said one or more target sites and calculating a wind speed for each node in the path of nodes.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the path of nodes is selected to create a path with gradual changes in terrain complexity and elevation along the path of nodes.

### Claim 8

A method of predicting wind speed at one or more target sites comprising the steps of:
measuring a wind speed and a direction at one or more meteorological towers;
defining a location of said one or more target sites;
calculating exposure at the one or more meteorological towers;
selecting a wind flow model that relates wind speed to exposure, the wind flow model comprising different sets of coefficients for uphill flow, downhill flow, and wind flow speed-up over a hill;
calculating exposure at said one or more target sites;
determining if wind flow is uphill, downhill, or over a hill;
selecting a set of model coefficients based on wind flow; and
applying the wind flow model using the measured wind speed at the one or more meteorological towers and exposure at said one or more target sites to predict a wind speed for said one or more target sites.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of calculating terrain complexity; and
wherein the step of selecting a wind flow model comprises selecting a wind flow model based on terrain complexity.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting a wind flow model based on terrain complexity comprises evaluating a log-log relationship between model coefficients and terrain complexity.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the terrain complexity is calculated by creating a grid of terrain exposure and selecting exposure values within a predetermined upper percentile within the grid to represent terrain complexity.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined upper percentile is a P10 percentile.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the terrain complexity is compared to a predetermined threshold and if the terrain complexity exceeds the predetermined threshold then creating a path of nodes between the one or more meteorological towers and said one or more target sites and calculating a wind speed for each node in the path of nodes.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the path of nodes is selected to create a path with gradual changes in terrain complexity and elevation along the path of nodes.

### Claim 15

A method of predicting wind speed at one or more target sites comprising the steps of:
measuring a wind speed and a direction at one or more meteorological towers;
calculating exposure at the one or more meteorological towers;
calculating terrain complexity;
selecting a wind flow model based on terrain complexity that relates wind speed to exposure the wind flow model comprising different sets of coefficients for uphill flow, downhill flow, and wind flow speed-up over a hill;
calculating exposure at said one or more target sites;
determining if wind flow is uphill, downhill, or over a hill;
selecting a set of model coefficients based on wind flow; and
applying the wind flow model using the measured wind speed at the one or more meteorological towers and exposure at said one or more target sites to predict a wind speed for said one or more target sites.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the step of selecting a wind flow model based on terrain complexity comprises evaluating a log-log relationship between model coefficients and terrain complexity.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the terrain complexity is calculated by creating a grid of terrain exposure and selecting exposure values within a predetermined upper percentile within the grid to represent terrain complexity.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined upper percentile is a P10 percentile.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the terrain complexity is compared to a predetermined threshold and if the terrain complexity exceeds the predetermined threshold then creating a path of nodes between the one or more meteorological towers and said one or more target sites and calculating a wind speed for each node in the path of nodes.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein the path of nodes is selected to create a path with gradual changes in terrain complexity and elevation along the path of nodes.