Category: Pyrheliometer

The Kipp & Zonen SHP1 Pyrheliometer is a high-precision instrument designed to measure direct normal irradiance (DNI) with traceability to the World Radiometric Reference. It employs a thermopile sensor featuring a black absorber and a quartz window, offering a broad spectral response from 200 to 4000 nm. Operating on the thermoelectric principle, the sensor generates a voltage proportional to the absorbed solar radiation via a temperature differential across its thermocouples. It delivers fast response times—less than 0.7 seconds for 63% of the signal and under 2 seconds for 95%—enabling rapid and accurate measurements. The SHP1 provides both analogue and digital output options, including 0–1 V voltage, 4–20 mA current, and RS?485 Modbus RTU for data communication.

The pyrheliometer has a measuring range of –200 to +2000 W/m², which can be extended to ±4000 W/m². It incorporates built-in temperature compensation to ensure minimal sensitivity deviation across ambient temperatures from –40°C to +70°C. A standard 10-meter shielded, low-noise signal cable is included, with optional lengths up to 100 meters, while digital RS?485 connections can be extended up to 1000 meters. With a narrow 5° field of view, high cosine accuracy, and a zero offset of less than 1 W/m² due to temperature drift, the SHP1 also boasts non-linearity of less than 0.2% and long-term stability better than 0.5% per year.

Built in an IP67 weatherproof housing, the SHP1 operates reliably from –40°C to +80°C and requires a supply voltage of 5–30 VDC, consuming approximately 55 mW for the voltage version and 100 mW for the current version. Each unit is delivered with a calibration certificate traceable to international standards, and Kipp & Zonen recommends recalibration every two years. These features make the SHP1 ideal for meteorological monitoring, solar energy performance assessment, and scientific research requiring dependable and precise solar radiation measurements.