A state-of-the-art solar simulation facility for multidisciplinary research on sustainable technologies

on sustainable technologies. The simulator is designed to achieve uniform intensity distribution on the test plane, good spectral distribution, variable intensity level and flexibility. A unique dimming arrangement allows the simulator to provide uniform intensity light under non-normal incidence angle conditions. A 2.75 m × 2.02 m × 0.35 m (length × width × depth) lamp frame consisting of 35 (575 W) metal halide lamps arranged in 7 rows of 5 lamps is capable of illuminating a test area 2.2 m × 2.0 m with a maximum intensity of up to 1200 Wm-2. A series of tests were conducted to calibrate the simulator including uniformity measurement of light intensity distribution and degree of light collimation. The uniformity of 94.3% is achieved with standard deviation of 5.7% on a 2.2 m × 1.5 m target set at distance of 1.8 m from the lamp array for normal light incident. The solar simulator has been used in testing a novel solar heat exchanger, concentrating PV systems, solar thermal systems and thermal comfort measurements.