Concentrating PV: An Alternative to Calorimeters for Measuring High Solar Flux Densities

Abstract

Gardon calorimetric transducers are widely used to measure concentrated solar radiation flux on solar thermal areas. These measurements need some correction to adapt their response from thermal to solar irradiance measurement. The authors propose the use of concentrating photovoltaic PV-cells to measure concentrated solar radiation flux. This paper shows the results obtained from a comparative test carried out in a solar furnace measuring concentrated solar irradiance with calorimetric and photovoltaic sensors, Gardon, and PV-Cells, respectively.