Advancements in solar simulators for terrestrial solar cells at high concentration (500 to 5000 Suns) levels

Testing requirements for high concentration solar cell systems have changed dramatically in the recent past, therefore a new generation of solar cell testers need to be developed to fulfill these testing requirements. This paper reports on one of those new solar cell illuminators. Spectrolab has completed initial evaluation of a Terrestrial-High Intensity Pulsed Solar Simulator (T-HIPSS) [3]. This pulsed illuminator produces up to 5000 Suns of raw Xe flash lamp spectrum over an area of 10 cm by 10 cm with very good uniformity. This complete, tabletop size system has the capability to be spectrally tuned to produce any of the AM1.5 spectral distributions and can be actively or passively adjusted to deliver the spectrum required. The illumination levels for these various spectral distributions are still well over 2000 Sun with spatial uniformity of better than 1% across the 10 cm by 10 cm area. The spectral balancing technique utilized in this system allows for the independent adjustment of at least 6 different wavelength bands from 250nm to 1800 nm. Included diagnostics allow for pulse to pulse monitoring of the spectral content and the possibility for computer controlled feedback for spectral balance/adjustment.