Hukseflux Thermal Sensors has established itself as the market leader in solar radiation measurement. PV power plant owners and asset managers favour its solar radiation sensors due to their exceptional measurement accuracy and emphasis on minimising the total cost of ownership. Recently, the company launched a new sensor for measuring diffuse solar radiation: the SRD100 diffusometer. PES spoke to Product Development Engineer Jelle Algra to learn more.
PES: It’s great to speak to you today Jelle. Perhaps I can start by asking, what prompted the development of the SRD100 diffusometer?
Jelle Algra: The primary reason we have introduced a diffusometer is that adding diffuse measurements to horizontal and Plane of Array solar measurements enhances the accuracy of models estimating the performance indicators of PV power plants.
Our product development team analysed the key measurement needs for PV system performance monitoring. The top three factors identified were solar irradiance, module temperature and soiling. Hukseflux already addresses solar irradiance with its pyranometers and module temperature with a dedicated PV module temperature sensor. The next priority is diffuse solar radiation, which we chose to focus on by developing an entirely new type of sensor.
