In the field of precipitation monitoring, although traditional tipping bucket rain gauges are widely used, their mechanical structure is prone to clogging, wear, evaporation loss and strong wind interference, and they have limitations when measuring drizzle or high-intensity heavy rain. In pursuit of higher reliability, lower maintenance costs and richer data dimensions, HONDE has launched a piezoelectric rainfall sensor based on advanced piezoelectric sensing technology. This product achieves fully automatic measurement of precipitation without moving parts and with high precision by perceiving the most essential physical property of raindrops – kinetic energy. It is becoming an innovative data collection tool in fields such as smart hydrology, precision agriculture, meteorological early warning, and urban management.
I. Technical Principle: Listen to the “Vibration Code” of Raindrops
The core of the HONDE piezoelectric rainfall sensor lies in its precise piezoelectric sensing element:
Perception mechanism: When raindrops (or snowflakes, hail) strike the specially designed sensing surface of the sensor, their kinetic energy is converted into tiny mechanical vibrations. The piezoelectric ceramic element closely attached to the sensing surface can directly convert this vibration into a proportional electrical signal.
Signal solution: The built-in high-performance processor analyzes the amplitude and waveform characteristics of each electrical signal in real time. Raindrops of different sizes produce different signal characteristics. Through the patented algorithm, the system can not only accurately calculate the cumulative rainfall, but also reverse the instantaneous rainfall intensity, and has the potential to distinguish the forms of raindrops, hailstones and even snowfall particles.
Core breakthrough: It has completely abandoned traditional mechanical mechanisms such as collection, funnels, and tipping hoppers, fundamentally avoiding problems like clogging, jamming, evaporation loss, and capture rate errors caused by wind force.
Ii. Core Advantages: Why Choose the piezoelectric Solution?
1. Extremely high reliability: With no moving parts, it is not afraid of interference from debris such as leaves and sand, requires almost no daily maintenance, and has an extremely long service life.
2. Outstanding measurement performance
Wide measurement range and high precision
True reflection of rainfall intensity: It provides rainfall intensity data updated within seconds, which is difficult for tipping bucket rain gauges to achieve. This is crucial for short-term and immediate warnings of mountain floods and urban waterlogging.
3. Strong environmental adaptability
4. Low power consumption and easy integration: Extremely low power consumption, suitable for solar-powered field sites; Output digital signals, making it easy to connect to iot nodes or data collectors.
Iii. Diversified Application Scenarios and Values
Intelligent hydrology and disaster early warning
Mountain flood and geological disaster monitoring: Deployed in small watersheds in mountainous areas, its high-precision and real-time rainfall intensity data are the most crucial inputs for mountain flood and debris flow early warning models. Compared with traditional equipment, it can capture the critical rainfall process that triggers disasters earlier and more accurately.
Urban waterlogging monitoring: Deployed in flood-prone areas, it reports rainfall intensity and accumulation in real time, providing minute-level data support for urban drainage dispatching, traffic control and emergency response.
2. Precision Agriculture and Water Management
Intelligent irrigation decision-making: Accurately measure effective rainfall, link it with soil moisture data, automatically deduct the rainfall contribution in the irrigation plan, achieve true “irrigation on demand”, avoid water resource waste, and optimize water conservation by 15-25%.
Agricultural disaster prevention: Monitor hail weather and issue timely warnings to reduce damage to fruits, vegetables and facility agriculture. Guide the timing of fertilization through rainfall data to prevent fertilizer from being washed away.
3. Transportation and Public Safety
Smart Highway: Installed at the entrances of expressways, Bridges and tunnels, it can monitor the risk of water accumulation and rainfall on the road surface in real time. When the rainfall intensity exceeds the threshold, the variable message board can be linked to issue a warning, or the maintenance department can be directly prompted to strengthen inspections.
Aviation and Railways: Provide precise precipitation data for airports and railway lines to assist in operation scheduling and flight/train safety decision-making.
4. Meteorology and Scientific Research Network
Supplement and upgrade traditional weather stations: As a new generation of highly reliable standard rainfall observation equipment, it is especially suitable for use in unmanned stations in remote and harsh environments.
Research on rainfall characteristics: The raindrop spectral distribution (requiring specific models) and continuous rainfall intensity data it provides offer valuable information for climate research, radar precipitation calibration, and hydrological model verification.
5. Renewable energy optimization
Photovoltaic power station operation and maintenance: Accurately monitor rainfall events, help judge the natural cleaning effect of component cleaning, optimize the manual cleaning cycle, and warn of strong convective weather that may affect power generation.
Iv. System Value of HONDE Piezoelectric Sensors
Data quality revolution: It provides continuous, true and undistorted original precipitation kinetic energy data by mechanical processes, enhancing the quality and reliability of hydro-meteorological data.
Operation and maintenance cost revolution: Transform maintenance work from frequent cleaning and calibration to nearly “zero contact”, significantly reducing the operation and maintenance costs throughout the entire life cycle.
Expansion of decision-making dimensions: Introducing the key dimension of “rainfall intensity” with high spatiotemporal resolution makes early warning and decision-making more refined and forward-looking.
V. Empirical Case: Precise Data Safeguards the Security of the Mountain City
In a demonstration project in a high-risk area for mountain floods and geological disasters, HONDE piezoelectric rainfall sensors were used to replace some traditional tipping bucket rain gauges. During a local sudden severe convective weather:
The piezoelectric sensor captured the sharp increase in rainfall intensity from 5mm/h to 65mm/h within 3 minutes and continuously reported second-level data.
Based on the precise rainfall intensity time series data it provided, the mountain flood warning platform issued a transfer warning for two villages downstream 22 minutes in advance.
3. However, traditional rain gauges in the same area experience fluctuations in initial data due to excessive rainfall intensity and are unable to provide continuous intensity variation curves.
Post-event assessment suggests that the data-driven early warning based on piezoelectric sensors has bought precious time for the safe transfer of personnel and prevented potential casualties and property losses. The head of the local water conservancy department said, “This sensor enables us to ‘hear’ the true ‘power’ of the rain, rather than simply the cumulative amount.” This is crucial for dealing with extreme weather.”
Conclusion
Precipitation monitoring is moving from recording “how much has fallen” to perceiving “how it has fallen”. HONDE’s piezoelectric rainfall sensor, with its unique physical sensing principle and robust solid-state design, has made this leap. It is not merely an upgrade of measurement tools, but also a paradigm shift in the way precipitation information is obtained – more reliable, more precise and more intelligent. Today, with extreme precipitation events frequently occurring due to climate change, such high-precision and low-maintenance sensing technologies are becoming indispensable data cornerstones for building smart water conservancy, resilient cities, precision agriculture and safe transportation. Through continuous innovation, HONDE transforms every impact of raindrops into digital power that safeguards safety, optimizes resources, and drives decision-making, enabling humans to have a more acute “hearing” and smarter responses when facing nature.
About HONDE: As an explorer of intelligent perception technology, HONDE is always committed to transforming the cutting-edge advancements in physics, materials, and algorithms into innovative products that address the actual pain points of the industry. We believe that more essential and direct measurements of natural phenomena are the reliable foundation for building a digital and intelligent world. The piezoelectric rainfall sensor is precisely the embodiment of this concept and is redefining the standards for precipitation monitoring.
For more rain sensor information, please contact Honde Technology Co., LTD.
WhatsApp: +86-15210548582
Email: info@hondetech.com
Company website: www.hondetechco.com
Post time: Dec-19-2025