A perfect time to calibrate
Published: Monday, October 10, 2016
If you are in the northern hemisphere, not too close to the equator, you will notice it: the days are getting shorter and the sun is less powerful. A perfect time to send your pyranometer(s) in for calibration. Be ready for next year’s (yield) measurements and calibrate now to keep your instrument at its top performance level.
Calibration locations nearby
In the northern hemisphere, we have multiple Kipp & Zonen calibration facilities available: at our offices in the USA, France, Singapore and Delft (Netherlands), and also at our distributors: Gengenbach (Germany) and Equinox (UK). The number of Kipp & Zonen calibration facilities will soon be extended, so there will always be a calibration facility near you.
Recommended every 2 years
Although our instruments are known for their measurement stability and overall quality, we recommend that you re-calibrate your pyranometer every 2 years. The re-calibration, complying to ISO 9847, provides proof of correct irradiance measurements that is often required by solar park owners and asset managers.
We service and test the instrument and measure the sensitivity under the same controlled conditions as during production. We also look at the sensitivity history to determine the stability of the instrument. Once you receive your pyranometer back, together with a new sensitivity certificate and calibration label, you can be sure of its reliability and accuracy.
How to avoid measurement outages during calibration?
If you have several pyranometers installed at a site, sending them in one-by-one might be an option to maintain the measurement quality of the site: interpolation between measurements from the other pyranometers may be sufficient.
Having only 2 or 3 pyranometers installed at your site, we recommend that you temporarily swap the instrument for calibration with a spare unit. For our most popular model of pyranometer, the CMP11, we even have an Interchange Service available: just order this Interchange Service with your calibration request and we will send you an instrument in a protective case; after the swap on location, you can use this case to send in your instrument for calibration. After calibration you swap it again and send the interchange instrument back to us, or use it for the next calibration: no measurement outage!
So don’t hesitate to send your pyranometers for calibration today!