Low-Cost Data Acquisition System for Solar Thermal Collectors
Orestis Panagopoulos, Athanassios A. Argiriou
Abstract
Solar thermal collectors are among the most popular renewable energy research subjects. Automatic Data Acquisition Systems (ADAS) have greatly facilitated their experimental testing, but their high cost is a drawback. In this paper, we present the design and testing of a decentralized, low-cost alternative ADAS based on the ESP32 microcontroller and on open-source software. The proposed system can be used for the experimental characterization of water (or air) operated solar thermal collectors in accordance with the ISO 9806:2017 requirements, but it is also compatible with sensors with lower specifications. We present also its performance results when applied for the testing of a solar thermal collector.