To simulate solar radiation at the earth's surface, a new economical multiple-lamp solar simulator was designed. The solar simulator is comprised of 188 reflector sunlight dysprosium lamps whose light spectrum is very similar to air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) solar spectrum terrestrial standards. Lamps are configured in a hexagonal pattern with 15 columns of 12 or 13 lamps at a lamp-to-lamp spacing and column-to-column spacing of 295mm. Without altering the radiation spectral distribution, the average irradiance on target irradiated area can be adjusted over a wide range between 150 and 1100W/m2 by means of the variation of lamps number or/and lamp-to-irradiated area distance. At the height of 2.0m the solar simulator provides 2m×1.5m irradiated area with over 1000 W/m2. Measurement of irradiance indicates that the multiple-lamp simulator conforms to Class B of ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Standard (ASTM E927-2005) in regard to spectrum match, irradiance uniformity and stability. To enlarge the effective irradiated area, two large mirror-like stainless steel plates was mounted on both of the long sides of the solar simulator. The radiation characteristics of simulator are improved and the optimized effectively irradiation surface is expanded up to 81.6%.

Date Published: 7 September 2011
PDF: 14 pages
Proc. SPIE 8128, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering XII; and Advances in Thin Film Coatings VII, 81280I (7 September 2011);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8128:
Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering XII; and Advances in Thin Film Coatings VII
R. Barry Johnson; Virendra N. Mahajan; Simon Thibault, Editor(s)