A wireless monitoring system for comparison photovoltaic and photovoltaic thermal characteristics

Abstract

This paper proposes a prototype of a wireless monitoring system. It was employed to compare the electrical characteristics of two solar modules of the same type and size. One of the solar modules on the bottom side is mounted a copper pipe for circulating water (as call photovoltaic thermal). This system serves as a heat absorption on the bottom of the solar module. The experiment is conducted at the same time, place, and sunlight intensity conditions for both solar modules. The characteristics of open circuit voltage, short-circuit current, temperature upper side, temperature bottom side and the irradiation of sunlight from the two solar modules are observed. The low-cost processor, A Tmega 8535 is employed as an embedded system and Visual Basic. Net as Graphic User Interface. The collecting data is processed and displayed graphically. The wireless communication is applied to PC and ATmega 8535. The measuring data is validated to instrument standard. The test results show that photovoltaic thermal generates greater electrical power than solar modules not equipped with heat absorption.