Continuous irradiance adjustment system design for solar simulators with wide range and high uniformity

To overcome the limitations of conventional solar simulators, which suffer from inadequate irradiance adjustment range, poor adjustment accuracy, serious arc displacement of the xenon lamp at the low power supply, and insufficient consideration of irradiance uniformity, we have designed an electrically controlled irradiance continuous adjustment device. Our approach involves a theoretical analysis of the radiation distribution on the attenuation diaphragm using the annular aperture method of a condenser, enabling modulation of the radiation distribution of the converging light path using a sector-shaped mesh structure with carefully calculated and simulated structural parameters.We then determined the structural scheme of the electrically controlled irradiance continuous adjustment device, which incorporates an attenuation diaphragm, a dimming dial, rolling balls, a cage, pinions, a motor fixation plate, a triangular bracket, and an electric control system. Key components were designed and optimized using finite element analysis, and the control system was also studied.In the final step, we tested the performance of the electrically controlled irradiance continuous adjustment device. Experimental results demonstrated that the irradiance of the solar simulator can be adjusted within the range of 23.7–1315.5 W/m², with a maximum relative error of the attenuation ratio within ± 0.2% and irradiance non-uniformity within ± 3%. Our device has achieved electrically controlled irradiance continuous adjustment, thereby expanding the application range of the solar simulator and improving its overall performance.