Wide field of view multifunctional solar sensor for photovoltaic power management via measurement of solar angle and intensity

Large-scale photovoltaic systems are a rapidly expanding contributor to sustainable energy production, and power management for these systems relies on measuring both solar angle and intensity simultaneously. However, current non-miniaturized sensors often offer a narrow field of view and measure only a single parameter, which does not meet the needs of advanced integrated photovoltaic power-management systems, motivating the need for a compact, multifunctional sensing solution. We propose a new, integrated, multifunctional sensor capable of capturing wide-view solar angle and intensity. This device integrates three detectors on a single chip, each with a differently inclined surface, to broaden the field of view. Tests under systematically varied angles and intensity levels showed that the three detectors respond most strongly at 117.5°, 87.5°, and 67.5°, with current-to-intensity coefficients of 2.85 × 10^-⁴, 2.31 × 10^-³, and 2.57 × 10^-⁴ μA/(W/m²). The device offers an unprecedented ±75° field of view for a single-chip solar sensor while maintaining a low mean error of 3.4° for the angle and a low relative mean error of 1.6% for intensity, respectively. This multifunctional micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensor, combining a wide field of view with high accuracy, marks an important step toward enabling distributed, in-situ power management in large-scale photovoltaic systems.