Photovoltaic monitoring system for Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array

Abstract

This study is devoted to characterizing the operation of the entire photovoltaic system installed in one of the Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array (AMIGA) stations, a complimentary detector for the Pierre Auger Observatory, the largest cosmic‐ray air shower array in the world, 3000 km2, powered exclusively by solar energy. To understand charge and discharge cycles, the whole system behavior under different climatic conditions and to determine its limitations, the design of a new prototype for monitoring the whole system online is a fundamental part of this contribution. Also, it is demonstrated that the configuration of solar charge controllers in parallel is able to manage panels of different powers and brands and that the monitoring system allows analyzing periods with adverse weather conditions.

Design, upgrade and characterization of the silicon photomultiplier front-end for the AMIGA detector at the Pierre Auger Observatory

“…For the conversion of the nominal 24 V external battery voltage (23 V to 32 V range [16]) to 5 V, two different options have been implemented: a non-isolated power supply and an isolated Cherenkov Imaging Telescope Integrated Read Out Chip. Application Specific Integrated Circuit.…”

“…As mentioned in section 2.2, a low power consumption is one of the main design goals. The power consumption was measured for an input voltage range from 22 V to 36 V (AMIGA battery voltage range: 23 V to 32 V [16]) with the SiPM board connected to the front-end board. In the measurement, we recorded simultaneously the input voltage with the multimeter U1231A [47] (60 V full scale) and the input current with the multimeter U1242A [48] (100 mA full scale).…”

Design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system for data acquisition

“…In order to do this, each UMD is connected to an SD to use the Pierre Auger Observatory trigger. In order to provide a safe data transfer and not to overload the existing SD telecommunications and power system, each station was equipped with a new telecommunications system [8], a new solar power system [9], a trigger relay system (the distributor, see section 2.5), three buried modules that comprise the UMD itself, and a synchronization system that connects the UMD data acquisition system with its corresponding SD data acquisition system. The motivation for the telecommunications system -3 -is stated in the mentioned reference, as a summary, an 802.11n WiFi system running a TCP/IP network is used.…”

“…The power for each station is supplied by independent photovoltaic systems since all installation sites are far away from any electric power grid [9]. The distributor receives power from the solar panels and distributes it to the four modules via Passive Power-over-Ethernet (PPoE) lines.…”

Design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system for data acquisition

“…The power for each station is supplied by independent photovoltaic systems since all installation sites are far away from any electric power grid [15]. The Distributor receives power from the solar panels and distributes it to the four modules via Passive Power-over-Ethernet (PPoE) lines.…”