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While the European Comission’s Joint Research Centre located in Ispra, Italy, had already put an inexpensive quality sensor, the ESTI Sensor, on the market, the European Union bureaucracy kept causing delivery problems.
With the development of the solar cell sensor SENSOL, the Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik (ISET) in Germany, is now attempting to fill this gap in the market. The device, which up to now had only been available as a laboratory model, guarantees the same spectral characteristics as a solar module because it is made out of the identical cell material. Unlike the ESTI Sensor, it is housed in an aluminum weatherproof casing. In addition, a temperature sensor is coupled to the measuring cell, while the ESTI Sensor only supplies temperature readings indirectly via the open-circuit voltage. SENSOL sensor versions are planned for monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous modules as well as for cadmium telluride and CIS modules. Modern inverters can compare the electrical harvest with the amount of solar radiation measured and thus provide a reliable report on the quality of the PV system. Unlike cheap sensors, the SENSOL can be calibrated; currently the calibration of the laboratory model is being conducted. As a result of this »mother« sensor, each device in the production series is calibrated and given a calibration certificate. The company IKS is planning to come out with a first series by the end of the year. In the meantime the Joint Research Centre in Ispra is almost at the point of closing a deal with a German firm which is supposed to take over the sales of the ESTI Sensors. The sensors will continue to be calibrated in Ispra. IKS Johannes
Bernreuter
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