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Title: Absolute cavity pyrgeometer

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1176532

Implementations of the present disclosure involve an apparatus and method to measure the long-wave irradiance of the atmosphere or long-wave source. The apparatus may involve a thermopile, a concentrator and temperature controller. The incoming long-wave irradiance may be reflected from the concentrator to a thermopile receiver located at the bottom of the concentrator to receive the reflected long-wave irradiance. In addition, the thermopile may be thermally connected to a temperature controller to control the device temperature. Through use of the apparatus, the long-wave irradiance of the atmosphere may be calculated from several measurements provided by the apparatus. In addition, the apparatus may provide an international standard of pyrgeometers' calibration that is traceable back to the International System of Units (SI) rather than to a blackbody atmospheric simulator.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
Assignee:
Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (Golden, CO)
Patent Number(s):
8,569,701
Application Number:
13/049,275
OSTI ID:
1176532
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 2011 Mar 16
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (5)

Pyrgeometer Calibration for DOE-Atmospheric System Research Program Using NREL Method (Presentation) report March 2010
Temperature derivative sensing and regulating device and method patent April 1998
Atmospheric longwave irradiance uncertainty: Pyrgeometers compared to an absolute sky-scanning radiometer, atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer, and radiative transfer model calculations journal November 2001
Pyrgeometer calibration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) journal October 2002
Calibrating pyrgeometers outdoors independent from the reference value of the atmospheric longwave irradiance journal August 2006