An Economic LED Solar Simulator Design

The optical design, fabrication, and evaluation of a low-cost solar simulator for photovoltaic device testing are presented in this article. Ten different high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the range 350–1100 nm are arrayed in a hexagonal geometry, enabling excellent spatial nonuniformity of irradiance (< 2%) while minimizing the number of LEDs required for solar emission spectral match. The solar simulator design demonstrates Class AAA performance at 100 mW / cm ² output irradiance over 70 cm ² with < 0.05% temporal instability of irradiance. The low total material cost of the solar simulator (< $700 USD) ensures an economic LED-based Class AAA solar simulator for electrical performance testing of photovoltaic devices.