Performance monitoring of different types of photovoltaic cells

Abstract

Scientific and technological developments make major changes in the energy sector for both generating energies from sustainable energy sources and monitoring of energy systems in ways that are more efficient. The main purpose of this study is to measure experimental data such as temperature, current and voltage by way of a sensor-based microcontroller device. Ergo, Arduino Uno is used for an ATmega328 microcontroller, voltage and current sensors are used to receive electric data that solar cells convert from solar radiation and a temperature and humidity sensor is used to collect weather data. The air temperature and solar radiation values have been taken from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. To store data, a secure digital memory card module (SD) is used. The performance evaluation of different types of photovoltaic cells, which are monocrystalline and polycrystalline cells, is aimed at in this study. To harvest energy, four similar monocrystalline and four similar polycrystalline cells are used. Monitoring the performance of each solar cell is the other objective of this study. Results of the performance of different types of solar cells are as expected, the starting point for further studies both for monitoring and for evaluating the performance of solar cells and sensor-based devices.