TCM-4 Shallow Water Tilt Current Meter

Tilt Current Meters & Data Loggers

The TCM-4 Tilt Current Meter is designed for use in shallow water locations such as coastal ponds, rivers and streams and tidal flats. The TCM-4 needs only 28 cm of water depth to operate and is easy to deploy by hand or from a small boat.

Lowell Instruments

East Falmouth, MA, US

Description

Tilt Current Meters measure current using the drag-tilt principle. The physical design is simple; the meter is buoyant and is secured by a flexible tether to a fixed anchor. Moving water tilts the logger in the direction of flow. A 3-axis magnetometer and 3-axis accelerometer determine tilt and bearing. The meter also contains a thermistor for recording temperature.

The meter’s electronics are housed in a carbon fiber case with no external sensors. The housing itself floats and the built-in data logger includes a USB communication interface, a microSD flash memory card, and a long-life lithium battery. Windows® software is used to configure the TCM-4 for deployment and to process data.

The TCM-4 is available at a fraction of the cost of acoustic meters and is simple to setup and deploy. The low total cost permits multiple current meters to be deployed in many locations simultaneously, thereby increasing spatial data density and reducing uncertainty.

Specifications

Physical Properties: Housing material

Carbon Fiber and Epoxy Laminate with PVC & PETG fittings, 316 Stainless Steel Screw and Buna and EPDM O-rings.

Weight in air [kg]

0.098

Width [cm]

2.54

Length [cm]

25.4

Operating temperature: min. [°C]

-5

Operating temperature: max. [°C]

50

General: Year of latest version

2014

Area of Application

Research, Consulting, Teaching

Field of Use

Fresh Water Lakes, Ponds & Streams, Saltwater Marshes, Irrigation & Aqueducts, Aquaculture, Hydrothermal Vents, Deep Ocean Trenches, Oceanographic Moorings, Lobster Traps

Languages Supported

English

Operating properties: Minimum operating depth {m}

0.28

Depth rating [m]

30

Output data format

CSV

Sampling rate

Current: 64 Hz to 1 sample per hour; Temperature: 1 Hz to 1 sample per hour; Burst Mode - Variable rate logging at user defined interval

Temperature Sensor — Resolution

<0.005°C

Temperature Sensor — Accuracy

0.1°C

Other specifications: Data storage

8 GB SD Card included

Power supply and communication: Output interface {eg. rs232}

USB

Power supply (internal/external with specs)

3.6 V, size “A”, User Replaceable Lithium Battery