Non-contact measurement of POA irradiance and cell temperature for PV systems

This paper presents a non-contact measurement of irradiance on plane of array (POA) and cell temperature for PV systems. The idea is motivated from the diode model of PV, where POA irradiance and cell temperature are proportional to the photocurrent and modified ideality factor, respectively. Based on the recent progress of diode model identification, the photocurrent and modified ideality factor can be linearly determined from I-V characteristics, which makes it feasible to develop a non-contact measurement approach for POA irradiance and cell temperature, i.e., both of them will be derived completely from the diode mode parameter identification without the need of any sensors. The calibration of the proportional factors is done from the indoor module flash test and then applied to outdoor module testbed to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method.