Development of a new temperature data acquisition system for solar energy applications

The experimental work in solar energy researches generates large amounts of data; take a lot of time, effort and high cost. Solar energy researches in many places still depend on thermocouples and the traditional methods of measuring and recording temperature data. The great advance in temperature sensors and the fast development in microcontrollers encourage many researchers to design many data acquisition systems. In this work a new sensor-based temperature data acquisition system for solar energy applications has been proposed, designed, constructed and tested. The main advantage of this system method is its flexibility and ease of changing the type of sensors and way of recording data. It is especially suitable for large and remote installations where cost is a deciding factor in the choice of measuring system.