NREL Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (YES MFR) |
Latitude: 39.7423o North Longitude: 105.1785o West Elevation: 1828.8 AMSL Time Zone: MST |
Data sets currently available on SRRL MFR web site
- Daily plots and raw data files, are available from January 30, 2012 to July 16, 2012.
- Solar Calendars, are available from January 2012 to July 2012.
- Instrument history and meta data.
A Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (Model MFR-7) offers a low cost option of measuring solar radiation resources for renewable energy applications. The MFR is a thermopile-based instrument that measures the global and diffuse solar irradiance. The instrument also includes independent interference filter-photodiodes to measure the spectral irradiance at six different wavelengths. The control and data acquisition system computes the corresponding direct normal solar irradiance based on the geographic location of the MFR and the time of the data collection events.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) obtained an MFR from Yankee Environmental Systems in January 2012 for evaluation. This instrument is installed at the Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL).
By design, the MFRs offer the potential advantages of lower maintenance and calibration costs because they use a single instrument with a diffuser for determining the direct, diffuse, and global solar irradiance rather than up to three radiometers with larger optical surfaces, more complex support equipment, or more maintenance-intensive support equipment.