Patent ID: 8785858

Claim:
A solar sensor for the detection of the direction of incidence and the intensity of solar radiation, comprising; a housing comprising a plastic material that is permeable to at least some of the solar radiation, the housing having a curved solar radiation-incidence side, optically acting as a lens, and having an internal focal plane defined by the lens characteristics thereof; and only three photosensors that are embedded in the plastic material of the housing, each photosensor having a sensor area sensitive to at least the part of the radiation to which the plastic material is permeable, the sensor areas of the photosensors being arranged in a substantially common plane located in front of or behind the focal plane, seen from the solar radiation-incidence side, wherein the sensor areas are each rotated and offset by 120 degrees with respect to each other, and the direction of incidence of the solar radiation being determinable based on the intensities of the solar radiation received by the sensor areas of the photosensors.