TS-Space Systems - Solar Simulators and Vacuum Testing

  • Home
  • About
    • Publications
  • News
  • Products
  • Test House
  • Contact

What's a solar simulator "zone"?

11/6/2015

 
solar simulator spectrum
Spectral irradiance comparison between AM0 standard (ASTM E-490) and TS-Space Unisim: (a) irradiance from each of four lamps indicated by “zone” numbers and vertical blue markers indicate band gaps of typical IMM four junction solar cell; (b) percent of total irradiance for each of six wavelength regions as specified by IEC 60904-9.[1]
At TS-Space Systems, when we made the worlds first multi-source close match solar simulator back in 1997 [2], we also made the world's first multi zone solar simulator by definition. What is a "zone" when it comes to solar simulators? It's a good question and one we get asked quite a lot of the time.

Modern multi-source solar simulators follow a general pattern of combining an arc lamp (traditionally Xenon) with one or more  incandescent lamps. At TS-Space Systems we've lead the way by adopting Metal Halide arc lamps for our latest range of solar simulators which are cheaper and much more stable than Xenon sources without using feedback controllers.

But where our solar simulators really excel is their division of the spectrum into independently controllable wavebands. We call these spectral "zones". As an example, the measured spectrum of a TS-Space Systems Unisim, quad-source (four zone) solar simulator is shown to the left.

The intensity of each "zone" can be adjusted independently in a TS-Space Systems Unisim solar simulator. Being able to adjust discrete portions of the spectrum while a device is under test allows for specific sub-cells to be limited or saturated with their appropriate wavelength of light. Thus the behaviour and characteristcs of the device can be fully investigated.

A further distincition can therefore be drawn between advanced solar simulators which provide a close-match and those which not only provide a close-match, but divide the spectrum into controllable "zones" which are suited to the spectral response of each band gap within the solar cell. 

What happens when you need more than four "zones"? That's where our Unisim N-Zone comes in.


[1] Montgomery, Kyle H.; Wilt, David M.; Howard, Alex; Williams, Bill; Williams, Bill; , "Characterization of a TS-Space quad-source solar simulator," Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE , vol., no., pp.001517-001522, 3-8 June 2012

[2] Wilkinson, V. A.; Goodbody, C.; Williams, W. G., "Measurement of multijunction cells under close-match conditions," Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1997., Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth IEEE , vol., no., pp.947,950, 29 Sep-3 Oct 1997
doi: 10.1109/PVSC.1997.654244


Comments are closed.

    TS-Space Systems News

    Categories

    All
    Aerospace Test House
    Close Match Spectrum
    Covid-19
    ECSS-Q-70-04A
    ECSS-Q-ST-70-01
    ECSS-Q-ST-70-05C
    FTIR
    GDPR
    IV Measurement
    LED Solar Simulator
    Light Sources
    Lockdown
    Low Cost Solar Simulators
    Made In Britain
    Manufacturing
    Multijunction Solar Cells
    News
    Offgassing Testing
    Opening Hours
    Outgassing Testing
    Solar Simulator Demonstration
    Solar Simulator Faq
    Solar Simulators
    Test Facilities
    Unisim Compact
    Unsim Solar Simulator
    Vacuum Bakeout
    Vacuum Chambers
    Website Policies

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed

Company

About
Products
Services

Support

Contact
Guide to Simulators
Cookie Policy
Privacy Policy
​
Terms and Conditions
Picture
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.