TY - JOUR

T1 - Improving the Irradiance Data Measured by Silicon-Based Sensors

AU - Mubarak, Riyad

AU - Schilke, Holger

AU - Seckmeyer, Gunther

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: The APC was funded by the Open Access fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2021/5/12

Y1 - 2021/5/12

N2 - Silicon-based sensors are widely used for monitoring solar irradiance, in particular, in the field of Photovoltaic (PV) applications. We present a method to correct the global horizontal irradiance measured by silicon-based sensors that reduces the difference to the standard thermopile sensor measurements. A major motivation to use silicon-based sensors for the measurements of irradiance is their lower cost. In addition, their response time is much lower, and their spectral response is much closer to that of the PV systems. The analysis of the differences is based on evaluating four parameters that influence the sensor measurements, namely the temperature, cosine error, spectral mismatch, and calibration factor. Based on the analysis, a correction model is applied to the silicon sensors measurements. The model separates measurements under a clear sky and cloudy sky by combining the clearness index and the solar zenith angle. By applying the correction model on the measurements of the silicon-based sensor, the differences between sensor readings have been reduced significantly. The relative root mean squared difference (rRMSD) between the daily solar irradiation measured by both sensors decreased from 10.6% to 5.4% after applying the correction model, while relative mean absolute difference (rMAD) decreased from 7.4% to 2.5%. The difference in total annual irradiation decreased from 70 KWh/m 2 (6.5%) to 15 kWh/m 2 (1.5%) by the correction. The presented correction method shows promising results for a further improvement in the accuracy of silicon-based sensors.

AB - Silicon-based sensors are widely used for monitoring solar irradiance, in particular, in the field of Photovoltaic (PV) applications. We present a method to correct the global horizontal irradiance measured by silicon-based sensors that reduces the difference to the standard thermopile sensor measurements. A major motivation to use silicon-based sensors for the measurements of irradiance is their lower cost. In addition, their response time is much lower, and their spectral response is much closer to that of the PV systems. The analysis of the differences is based on evaluating four parameters that influence the sensor measurements, namely the temperature, cosine error, spectral mismatch, and calibration factor. Based on the analysis, a correction model is applied to the silicon sensors measurements. The model separates measurements under a clear sky and cloudy sky by combining the clearness index and the solar zenith angle. By applying the correction model on the measurements of the silicon-based sensor, the differences between sensor readings have been reduced significantly. The relative root mean squared difference (rRMSD) between the daily solar irradiation measured by both sensors decreased from 10.6% to 5.4% after applying the correction model, while relative mean absolute difference (rMAD) decreased from 7.4% to 2.5%. The difference in total annual irradiation decreased from 70 KWh/m 2 (6.5%) to 15 kWh/m 2 (1.5%) by the correction. The presented correction method shows promising results for a further improvement in the accuracy of silicon-based sensors.

KW - Incident solar radiation

KW - Pyranometer

KW - Silicon sensors

KW - Solar reference cell

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106559504&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/en14102766

DO - 10.3390/en14102766

M3 - Article

VL - 14

JO - Energies

JF - Energies

SN - 1996-1073

IS - 10

M1 - 2766

ER -