Performance of low-cost solar radiation logger

In solar power systems, irradiance value data are among the most important parameters. Such data can be used in installing photovoltaic (PV) modules, such as determining the exact location, tilt angle, and required area, for optimal power efficiency. In this study, the comprehensive simulation and implementation of a solar radiation meter with a PV cell and temperature sensor are presented. The irradiance measurement value is based on the power reading generated by the small capacity of the PV cell at a specific load converted into a digital value in the microcontroller using the implicit Newton polynomial interpolation (NPI) equation as a low-cost alternative method. The effect of temperature is included in the conversion to obtain precise measurement results. Firstly, the structure and characteristics of the PV cell are discussed. Secondly, the parameters, measuring method, and conversion of the measurement reading data using the NPI equation are presented to assess the results. Finally, the simulation of the solar radiation meter using the PSIM and implementation of the hardware are conducted to validate the concepts and compare their results. The proposed hardware has an average error of 2.72% in the implementation of the measurement test.