English
Applications for measuring solar radiation (its intensity), e.g. for the evaluation of the effectiveness of PVPS, thermal panels, optimizing heating water in thermal panels, etc., utilize the solar radiation sensors: pyranometers, solarimeters and other sensors, which are sensitive to the required components of solar radiation.
Each type of sensor is sensitive to a certain range of the light spectrum:
Pyranometer: measures the total radiation, usually from 300nm to 2,800nm
Solarimeter: measures the radiation from about 300nm to 1000nm
Photodiode: the cheapest but the least accurate, with a limited range of measured radiation
A more accurate measurement requires a higher quality sensor, which has to be supplemented with temperature compensation, e.g. solar radiation is measured by a calibrated solar cell, including the temperature compensation of the measured values.
SOLARIMETER
The solarimeter works on the principle of the photovoltaic effect, which generates an electrical signal proportional to the incident radiation (direct and diffuse solar radiation). However, a solar cell does not react with constant sensitivity to all wavelengths. It si important that it reacts to light in the same way as the PVP modules. The value measured in this way depends on the surface and the temperature of the sensing element. A high-quality solarimeter provides a compensation of the value based on the temperature of the sensor.
PYRANOMETER
The pyranometer is an instrument for measuring total solar radiation (direct and diffuse radiation) on a flat surface. Its principle is based on measuring the temperature difference between a light surface and a dark surface by a thermocouple. It is mainly used for meteorological purposes.
Applications for monitoring the intensity of solar radiation, such as evaluating the effectiveness of PVPS, thermal panels, optimizing heating water in thermal panels, etc., can utilize a sensor for measuring the intensity of solar radiation with a temperature compensation (a solarimeter). Solar radiation is measured by the S-SI-01I sensor, whose core is a calibrated solar cell including a temperature compensation of the measured values; it is connected to the selected CFox or RFox modules, or directly mounted on the CIB bus of the C-IT-0200-SI module (see some examples in the following articles).