Title :
Design of a low cost irradiance meter using a photovoltaic panel
Author :
Cruz-Colon, Joel ; Martinez-Mitjans, Luis ; Ortiz-Rivera, Eduardo I.
Author_Institution :
ECE Dept., Univ. of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Abstract :
The purpose of this work is present a low cost irradiance (W/m2) meter using a solar cell. By the constant monitoring of the open circuit voltage and the short circuit current of the solar cell it is possible to calculate the effective irradiance. This work pretends to avoid the use of classical solar irradiance sensors (e.g. pyronometer), which are expensive. The instrument consists of a solar cell, a simple sensing circuit and a microcontroller.
Keywords :
meters; short-circuit currents; solar cells; constant monitoring; low cost irradiance meter design; microcontroller; open circuit voltage; photovoltaic panel; sensing circuit; short circuit current; solar cell; Current measurement; Integrated circuit modeling; Photovoltaic systems; Sensors; Temperature measurement; Voltage measurement; Irradiance; Pyronometer; Solar Cell;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0064-3
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2012.6318195
