Reliable and Inexpensive Solar Irradiance Measurement System Design
Abstract In this work, we present an innovative low cost sensor and algorithm for the monitoring and measurement of solar irradiance. This parameter is usually estimated using pyranometers, often based on thermopile. They are quite expensive, also because need additional hardware for data acquisition and manipulation as well as non negligible installation costs. The system architecture and novel algorithm here proposed employ small PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells and a digital sensor interface. Moreover, the logic section permits to tilt the sensor allowing to track the sun with improved accuracy.