Temperature and tilt sensors used in PV weather station performance evaluation

Since weather conditions directly affect the power production of PV plants, the core parameters of PV plant performance evaluation cannot be separated from accurate weather data. In view of this, every PV power plant monitoring system, needs a set of weather monitoring sensors to calculate the core evaluation indicators of the power plant, such as site efficiency and effective working time. In fact, only a small number of meteorological sensors, such as temperature sensors, tilt sensors, etc., are needed in the PV system weather station to fully cover the evaluation needs of the weather station.

　The weather station integrates a set of weather sensors with their spare parts, mounts, power supply equipment, and a local data collector for processing and storing the measured data. The sensors are installed in a specified way and the station monitoring system can read their coordinates and configuration.

Temperature sensors 　　

The accuracy of meteorological data is key to the performance evaluation of a power plant. In the case of power plant performance evaluation, sensors such as humidity sensors and barometric pressure sensors, which have some correlation with power generation, are not generally used. What is usually used more often are temperature sensors. 　　

For example, on the module backsheet, a temperature sensor is usually installed directly on the back of the PV module to measure the temperature of the cells in the module. This measurement method, which uses a heat exchange model, converts the module backsheet temperature to the temperature of the cells inside the module. The conversion process also requires input of ambient temperature as well as wind speed and direction for correction. 　　In addition, ambient temperature sensors are installed at the weather station to monitor the air temperature around the actual operating array. 　　

Inclination Sensors 　　

For PV plants built in areas with large topographic relief, such as PV modules being installed on different slopes, the impact of the slope orientation and inclination on the calculation of key performance indicators also needs to be fully considered to ensure the accuracy of the calculation. 　　In addition, the way the weather station instruments are installed can directly affect the accuracy of instrument sampling and the credible value of irradiation. For example, if the irradiator is oriented 3° to the east relative to the array module orientation, then the measured inclination incident irradiation is already significantly different from the irradiation received by the array, so the irradiation data from that irradiator will also become unreliable. 　　

So, at this time, the PV system weather station is usually also equipped with additional tilt sensors to monitor and control the tilt and attitude of the meter in real time, so as to avoid the anomaly of the weather station evaluation results caused by the tilt problem.