Low Cost Solarimetric Station with Solar Resource Calculation Based on Arduino Microcontroller and Web Platform

Abstract

A low cost web solarimetric station tool was developed using an educational solar panel and Arduino microcontroller. Data are shown at Web platform, doing the accessible anywhere anytime, data are also shown at real time. The level of confidence is high due to the proposal was calibrated with specialized equipment to monitoring Irradiance level. The developed web tool performs automatic data acquisition of the open circuit Voltage (V OC ) from the solar panel, as well as temperature level measurement. Low cost microcontroller Arduino is the data acquisition device, it sends V OC measurements obtained from the solar panel, and temperature from a thermocouple. Data are sent by wireless connection into a web data base. After data are obtained, processed and analyzed performing the programmed calculations. Results can be shown in the Web platform as a table or as a graphic, depending on the user requirement, data are updated every fifteen minutes. Historical data are also available on the Web platform with some period of time limitations. Data can be consulted on different Operative System platforms, such as Windows, Android or iOS, it means data can be consulted even in mobile devices. The integration of low cost open source software and hardware tools was successfully done to build an automatic data acquisition system for Irradiance and temperature in-situ of the university campus.