Design and implementation of a low-cost multi-channel temperature measurement system for photovoltaic modules

An efficient and low-cost temperature logging system with a 16-channel input was developed for measurements of photovoltaic module temperature. This paper reports the principle of operation, design aspects, as well as the experimentation and performance of the simultaneous temperature measurement of 16 solar cells/modules. The system consists of a 16 channel multiplexer, a 12 bit A/D, a differential amplifier and NTC temperature sensors. The temperature range of the sensor is from −20 °C to 120 °C. The simplistic design requires no large internal memory to store data but incorporates a high degree of sensitivity and dynamic range (according to climate condition), thus the cost of the design remains low and makes it suitable for field applications. The system was successfully tested for the operating temperature of a 40-cell mono crystalline Si photovoltaic module under realistic outdoor conditions during a summer and a winter day. The temperature Instrumentation developed for avoidance of special interface card use enabled the successful collection of data from long distances with negligible level of noise.