Development of a Solar Cell and Environmental Characterization System for Isolated Locations

This work describes the methods and techniques used for the development of a multipurpose station to perform experiments in isolated places. Its application in a system to characterize solar cells is presented, where capturing of electrical and environmental data is required. Obtained results allow to compare the performance of new and conventional photovoltaic devices, and also to characterize the surrounding environment. The implemented system incorporates two different solar cell technologies. They are installed on a mobile platform capable of orienting their position arbitrarily and perform continuous sun-tracking. Voltage, current and solar cell temperature data is logged together with relevant environmental information such as the incident solar spectrum, total irradiance and weather variables. The proposed solution is based on two complementary systems that interact between them. It incorporates a specific device for solar cell characterization which interacts with a generic system that provides it with energy, processing power, physical support and user-interface in the field. As a consequence of this generic approach, the system can be easily expanded to provide analogue services to new devices that need to be incorporated in the future. The described system was developed to provide relevant scientific data for field operations of the NASA-funded “Life in the Atacama” project performed by Carnegie Mellon University in the Atacama desert (Chile) during years 2003, 2004 and 2005.