In the field of photovoltaics, we often encounter the need to measure solar irradiance
at distant or difficult to reach locations.
In this master’s thesis we present the development and production of an autonomous
device for measuring solar irradiance and other environmental parameters.
For that, we installed an autonomous power supply, where the battery
charges from built-in solar cells. The device acquires solar irradiance and spectrum,
air temperature and humidity data. Results are processed and sent via
a wireless GSM network to a remote MQTT broker, where they are saved by a
custom developed server-side program and visualized through a web interface. To
protect the device, we also developed and manufactured a suitable water tight
case.
The device is built in such a way that it enables two-sided measurement of all
the listed parameters and has proven to be an indispensable tool for designing
advanced PV projects, such as agrovoltaics, where a careful placement of PV
modules is a key to achieving the planned ratio between the energy output of the
PV power plant and the growth of agricultural crops.
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