Five-hole and seven-hole probes are Aeroprobe's staple product. These probes can be manufactured in a variety of geometries and sizes and are capable of measuring flow speed and direction to within an accuracy of 0.8% of calibrated magnitude and 0.4° angle.

A conventional probe is comprised of a single cylindrical body with five or seven holes at its tip. The holes are connected internally, to pressure-sensing equipment. When the probe is placed in the flow, the pressures recorded from each port can be interpreted by our software to determine both the velocity magnitude and direction with respect to the probe. These conventional probes can be manufactured in a large variety of custom geometries and sizes as small as 1.0 mm in tip diameter. The maximum incidence angle of these probes is about 60° for a five-hole probe, and 70° for a seven-hole probe. The probes are capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 150 °C (for higher-temperature applications see below), and can return a frequency response of up to 100 Hz. For applications requiring a higher frequency-response, special probes are available as discussed below. Typical probe geometries are straight, L-shaped, and Cobra-shaped. The tips can be made conical, faceted or hemispherical.

Applications

These probes are by far our most commonly sold product and are being used by universities and industrial testing facilities around the world. While the probes are most commonly used in wind-tunnels water tunnels and towing tanks, they are occasionally found mounted behind a full-scale power-generating wind-turbine or inserted into the prototype of automobile engine's intake manifold, or monitoring industrial processes like mining flotation machines.