A Study of Optical System Concepts and High Intensity Light Sources for Solar Radiation Simulation

摘要

The study was made to evaluate three new high-powered arc sources as possible radiation sources for a large modular solar simulator. The three sources are (1) the Vortex Stabilized Radiation Source developed by Giannini Scientific Corp; (2) the Fluid Transpiration Arc developed by Vitro Laboratories; and (3) the High Intensity Carbon Arc developed by RCA Service Co. The radiation characteristics of the sources were studied to determine the spectral properties of the radiation from each source, and to permit derivation of mathematical expressions for the radiance distribution of each source. A careful review of the nature of solar radiation and of the theory of energy transfer in optical systems was conducted. On the basis of this review and the source radiance functions derived in the source study, several optical system concepts for solar radiation simulation were synthesized and analyzed for use with each source. The optical concepts studied range from simple parabolic collimators and uncollimated projection modules to systems consisting of trains of conic section reflectors and modifications thereto. (Author)