Temperature Measurement in Solar Thermal Applications
Abstract
While measuring the temperature of a fluid such as air or water which is exposed to solar radiation, the temperature measuring device, such as a thermocouple, should be shielded from incident irradiance. The probe should be well ventilated in order to increase heat transfer by convection and thus get a reading closer to the true temperature. The popular Stevenson screen which is used for meteorological air temperature measurement consists of a cage with horizontal louvers. This makes it too bulky to use in enclosures such as solar collectors. In this study, various shields have been analysed under laboratory conditions using a halogen lamp as a source of infrared radiation.