Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 5081: Analysis and Adjustment of Positioning Error of PSD System for Mobile SOF-FTIR (Sensors)

A PSD-based solar spot position detection system is developed for solar tracking closed-loop control of mobile SOF-FTIR (Solar Occultation Flux method based on Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer). The positioning error factors of PSD (position sensitive detector) are analyzed in detail. A voltage model for PSD signal conditioning circuit has been established to investigate the noise factors. The model shows that the positioning error is mainly related to PSD dark current and circuit gain. A static voltage deduction calibration method based on genetic algorithm is proposed to eliminate the effect of dark current. The gain ratio between channels is calculated based on the fitting curve slope of discrete position data of PSD center point with different light intensity for circuit gain calibration. The positioning accuracy and precision are greatly enhanced, especially when the light intensity is weak, compared with uncalibrated results. The positioning accuracy of center, middle and edge areas of PSD can reach 0.14%, 0.49%, and 1.09%, respectively, after correction in the range of light intensity voltage from 40 mV to 20 V. The corresponding standard deviations of each region are 0.005, 0.009, and 0.014, respectively. The adjustment methods proposed in this paper improve both measurement accuracy and detection limit. The results demonstrate that the calibrated PSD positioning accuracy can meet the requirements of SOF-FTIR for solar tracking.