Development of a Low-Cost Pyrometer using Locally Sourced Materials

Measurement of solar irradiance in-situ was very scanty in this part the world most research estimate using atmospheric weather parameter. In this work a low-cost pyranometer using locally sourced materials was developed. Instrument or device consists of photodiode (BPW34) housed inside 40 with bulb that is perfectly seal, solar irradiance sensor amplifier, 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADS1115), arduino mega2560, and liquid crystal display (LCD) and microSD card shield. The design amplifier has offsetting voltage of 0.8676 mV. The sensitivity of solar irradiance was amplifier 868.19 Wm-2V-1 with correct factor 27.77 Wm-2. The output range of developed instrument is between 0.1 mV to 1.4 V with maximum 1200 Wm-2. The possible error of the instrument is 9.67%. The result obtained when compared SRS100 pyranometer is 0.89. The result obtained from collected data shows that from 8.15 to 16.00, local time, the response was very good with little difference at early hour of day around up to 8.30 am and around 4.30 pm downward.