New methods for solar cells measurement by LED solar simulator

A solar simulator for solar cells is an important tool to measure their performance. At present, xenon and halogen lamp is used at most laboratories. It is considerably accurate, but the facility is so large and so expensive. Therefore, a solar simulator using LED (light-emitting diode) lamps is proposed, that is low-cost and portable, and was invented to its capability. Its capability was preliminarily evaluated by examining an illuminance distribution using simulation. Although a light inhomogeneity is one of the problems to be solved, it was shown that an unevenness of illumination is about 3%. Secondly, in terms of spectral property, absolute spectral responses by plural usage of different LEDs were also estimated. An overall measurement concept and procedure by the LED simulator are discussed and proposed.