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Research Papers

# Optical Design of Multisource High-Flux Solar Simulators

[+] Author and Article Information

Research School of Engineering,
The Australian National University,
Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Sophia Haussener

Institute of Mechanical Engineering,
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
e-mail: sophia.haussener@epfl.ch

Wojciech Lipiński

Research School of Engineering,
The Australian National University,
Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
e-mail: wojciech.lipinski@anu.edu.au

Additional solar simulators have been mentioned in the literature, including a one-lamp design producing a peak radiative flux of 1.11 MW m−2 [7], a two-lamp design delivering a radiative flux of 2.15 MW m−2 over a 8 mm dia. target [8], and a seven-lamp design, which, in combination with a CPC, delivers 2.87 MW m−2 over a 40 mm dia. target [9].

Setting $t$ to a slightly larger value than in reality introduces small gaps between the reflectors that facilitate the installation and adjustment of the radiation modules.

1Corresponding authors.

Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING: INCLUDING WIND ENERGY AND BUILDING ENERGY CONSERVATION. Manuscript received March 31, 2014; final manuscript received September 10, 2014; published online October 23, 2014. Assoc. Editor: Dr. Akiba Segal.

J. Sol. Energy Eng 137(2), 021012 (Oct 23, 2014) (9 pages) Paper No: SOL-14-1106; doi: 10.1115/1.4028702 History: Received March 31, 2014; Revised September 10, 2014

## Abstract

We present a systematic approach to the design of a set of high-flux solar simulators (HFSSs) for solar thermal, thermochemical, and materials research. The generic simulator concept consists of an array of identical radiation modules arranged in concentric rows. Each module consists of a short-arc lamp coupled to a truncated ellipsoidal specular reflector. The positions of the radiation modules are obtained based on the rim angle, the number of concentric rows, the number of radiation modules in each row, the reflector radius, and a reflector spacing parameter. For a fixed array of radiation modules, the reflector shape is optimized with respect to the source-to-target radiation transfer efficiency. The resulting radiative flux distribution is analyzed on flat and hemispherical target surfaces using the Monte Carlo ray-tracing technique. An example design consists of 18 radiation modules arranged in two concentric rows. On a 60-mm dia. flat target area at the focal plane, the predicted radiative power and flux are 10.6 kW and 3.8 MW m−2, respectively, and the predicted peak flux is 9.5 MW m−2.

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## Figures

Fig. 1

Comparison of the emission spectrum of a xenon arc lamp (Osram XBO 6500 W OFR) [17] with the terrestrial solar spectrum (ASTM AM1.5) [18] and the emission spectrum of a blackbody at 6000 K

Fig. 2

Geometry of the radiation module consisting of an ellipsoidal reflector and a point light source (bold outlines); a hole of projected radius rap at the apex of the reflector provides access for the lamp; the dashed–dotted line indicates the symmetry axis of the radiation module

Fig. 3

Schematics of the solar simulator geometry: (a) projection of the truncation cross sections of the reflectors on the x-y plane; (b) horizontal cross section at y = 0, with the dashed–dotted line indicating the symmetry axis of the simulator

Fig. 4

Xenon short-arc lamp: (a) geometry: the gray area indicates the luminous area, modeled as a cylinder (adapted from Ref. [20]); (b) probability density function of the angular emission distribution of the lamp relative to the lamp axis (averaged circumferentially; 0 deg—pointing toward the apex of the reflector)

Fig. 5

Interrelation between geometry parameters for fixed m = 2, nj = [6;12], and t = 20 mm, and variable rin and Φ: (a) minimal distance between HFSS and focal plane, lclear, (b) angular spacing between the reflector rows, αgap,1

Fig. 6

3D rendering of the selected solar simulator geometry with the parameters listed in Table 2; circles (red) in the 18 reflector foci indicate the lamp positions

Fig. 7

Radiative flux distribution at the focal plane (in MW m−2)

Fig. 8

(a) Local radiative flux, mean radiative flux, and radiative power as functions of the radial coordinate from the center of the focal plane; (b) radiation transfer efficiency from the lamps to the focal plane as a function of the radial coordinate

Fig. 9

Radiative flux distribution on a hemispherical target surface of 0.2 m radius, with its base at the focal plane and the hemisphere extending behind the focal plane, for (a) the 18-lamp HFSS design presented in this paper and (b) the seven-lamp HFSS design with geometrical parameters listed in Table 5, which is similar to the design reported by Krueger et al. [14] (units of radiative flux: kW m−2)

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