15.07.2015   EuroSun2008-2

Test facility: artificial sun

The exceptional artificial sun (fig. 6) of the SIJ is an indoor placed sun simulator which can simulate the sun’s position according to the altitude angle and the azimuth angle in different seasons of the year and to any location on earth. This high-precision sun simulator imitates the sun’s path with an accuracy of < 0.5mrad and creates a beam of parallel light with divergence < 4mrad.

image096The test facility is composed of a circular ring on which the unit can be rotated 360° degrees, and a light source which directs its light to a parabolic disk, which then provide a parallel beam of light. This light unit can be moved along a curved bracket to change its elevation. The artificial sun illuminates targets up to a diameter of 500mm. It is steered by two computer-operated electro motors witch can be

Подпись: Fig. 6. The Artificial Sun of the SIJ for lighting and sun path examinations. The main part of the facility is installed on the ceiling and consists of a rotating assembly for the movement of the azimuth angle and a telescopic arm for the movement of the envelope angle. At the end of the arm is the lighting unit fixed. It consists either of a lamp and a parabolic mirror supplying parallel light or of a LASER system. Under this assembly stands the target on a rotary round table.

moved stepwise or continuously in slow or high speed. The exact position for the movement control is detected by separate supplementary position encoders on each axis.