LABVIEW INTERFACE DRIVING MICROCONTROLLER DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM: APPLICATION TO MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING OF SOLAR ENERGY DATA

Abstract

Estimation of solar energy potential of a region requires detailed solar radiation climatology, and it is necessary to collect extensive radiation data of high accuracy covering all climatic zones of the region. In this paper, a data acquisition system would help to estimate solar energy potential considering the remote region’s energy requirement. This article explains the design and implementation of DAS for assessment of solar energy. The proposed system consists of a set of sensors for measuring meteorological parameters. The hardware part of our system conditioned firstly the collected data, using precision electronic circuits. This part is interfaced to developed LabView software using RS232 connection. The developed GUI is used to further process, display and store the collected data locally (in SD card or the PC disk) or far away (by email or FTP connection). The proposed architecture permits the rapid system development and has the advantage of flexibility and it can be easily extended for controlling the renewable energy systems like photovoltaic system. The DAS with executive information systems and reporting tools helps to tap vast data resources and deliver information