Development of a simple low-scale solar simulator and its light distribution

A simple low-scale solar simulator was developed. Three different lamps, which are conventional lightbulb, softone lightbulb, and halogen lamp, were employed as light sources. The halogen lamp, in fact, gave better intensity compared to the other lamps in which its intensity is closer to the field-measured sun intensity. In addition to measuring the light intensity distribution inside the simulator, simulation was also done using the Monte Carlo method. It was found that the Monte Carlo simulation fit very well the experimental data. Moreover, the light was centralized beneath the light source and well distributed inside the chamber. The intensity along the horizontal plane varied according to its position. The developed system can therefore be used for simulating the real sunlight very well.