The experience of the AIT Energy Department in the area of solar simulation goes back to the year 1985. Our existing competence is continuously updated by developing and realising new methods and procedures.
So a worldwide unique "artificial sky" has been realised at arsenal research for the testing and development of collectors and for industry-related applied research within the framework of the renewal of the indoor solar simulator.
As the range of the collectors to be tested reaches from vacuum-tube collectors, which are insensitive to heat radiation to a large extent, to very sensitive non-covered absorbers, a controlled, adjustable "sky temperature" is required on the test rig. Under different thermal conditions during the collector testing, the desired constant conditions of the long wave radiations on the collector can be ensured through a regulation by a change of the surface temperature of the sky. Besides the simulation of the long wave sky radiation, the "artificial sky" also serves as an infrared filter for the radiation sources in the solar simulator.
The tests and developments required for the success of the project have been carried out in an interdisciplinary cooperation under participation of various other AIT Departments "Laser and Optical Radiation, business segment "Medical Physics", area "Health Physics" ARCS, the institute for meteorology and physics of BOKU Vienna, and the World Radiation Centre in Davos.
roland.sterrer@ait.ac.at