JP2012094248A - Solar simulator equipped with optical fiber flux light guide member and optical fiber lens - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a solar simulator of a simple structure and capable of being compact, wherein an integrator, a collimator lens, and a reflecting mirror are eliminated.SOLUTION: The solar simulator is provided with: a light source part equipped with a light source lamp 2 and a condensing mirror 3; a shutter 4 for controlling passage and shutoff of light from the light source part; a spectral distribution correction filter 5 approximating a spectral distribution of light from the light source part to that of sunlight; an optical fiber flux light guide member 6, made of a flux of a plurality of optical fibers 9, for guiding light to a given site; and an optical fiber lens flux 7 consisting of a plurality of optical fiber lenses 8, wherein each of the fiber lenses 8 is coupled so as to transmit light to each optical fiber 9 and has its focal length adjusted so as to make light of the optical fiber 9 incident from an incident end face to emit parallel light from an emission end face. Each optical fiber 9 is coupled with the optical fiber lens 8 so that ones with different light volumes can be optionally arrayed in order to uniformalize emission luminance of irradiation light of the optical fiber lens flux 7.

Description

  The present invention relates to a solar simulator that generates simulated sunlight close to natural sunlight and irradiates the solar cell in order to measure the characteristics of the solar cell.

  In particular, the present invention relates to a solar simulator that does not require a conventional general solar simulator integrator, a collimator lens, and a reflecting mirror, has a simple structure, and can be miniaturized.

  In general, the characteristics of a solar cell are measured in order to confirm whether the intended performance can be exhibited in the manufacturing process.

The measurement of the characteristics of the solar cell is performed using a solar simulator and a characteristic measuring device. The solar simulator is light that is close to the spectral distribution of natural sunlight, and approximate light of natural sunlight, that is, the spectrum distribution is close to natural sunlight, and light with uniform irradiance distribution and parallelism (the irradiance is This is a device that creates 1kW / m ² of light (referred to as “reference sunlight”) and irradiates the solar cell.

  FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of a conventional general solar simulator.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the conventional general solar simulator 50 includes a xenon short arc lamp 51, a condenser mirror 52, a first reflecting mirror 53, a spectral distribution correction filter 54, a shutter 55, an integrator 56, A second reflecting mirror 57 and a collimator lens 58 are provided.

  The solar simulator 50 has a base 59 and has an inverted L-shaped frame 60 erected from a part of the base 59.

  A xenon short arc lamp 51 and a condensing mirror 52 are supported by a frame 60 above the base 59, and the reflecting surface of the condensing mirror 52 forms a spheroid. The light emission point of the xenon short arc lamp 51 is disposed at the position of the first focal point of the condenser mirror 52.

  The condensing mirror 52 is disposed so as to reflect and collect the light from the xenon short arc lamp 51 upward.

  The light reflected from the condenser mirror 52 is directed horizontally by the first reflecting mirror 53 and passes through the spectral distribution correction filter 54, the shutter 55, and the integrator 56.

  The spectral distribution correction filter 54 is an optical filter having appropriate spectral transmission characteristics for obtaining a desired spectral distribution.

  The light of the xenon short arc lamp 51 has a spectral distribution relatively close to that of natural sunlight, but has a band of energy that is considerably stronger than that of natural sunlight at a wavelength longer than 800 nm. 54, by appropriately attenuating light having a wavelength longer than 800 nm among the light of the xenon short arc lamp 51, the spectral distribution of the light of the xenon short arc lamp 51 is corrected so as to approximate the spectral distribution of natural sunlight. .

  The shutter 55 is means for passing or blocking light that has passed through the spectral distribution correction filter 54.

  Generally, since the characteristics of a solar cell change with temperature, it is necessary to prevent the temperature of the solar cell from rising due to light irradiation. The shutter 55 blocks light except when necessary to prevent the temperature of the solar cell to be measured from rising.

  The light that has passed through the spectral distribution correction filter 54 and the shutter 55 enters the integrator 56.

  The integrator 56 is usually made of fused silica glass or the like and forms a convex lens group arranged in a lattice shape as shown in FIG. 10, and each independent lens functions as a multi-optical axis lens projector as a whole. , Make one light source multiple light sources and make the irradiance uniform.

  In the convex lens group, when viewed from the front (optical axis direction), each single lens has a hexagonal shape or a square shape, and forms a honeycomb shape or a lattice shape.

  When the shutter 55 is open, the integrator 56 collects and focuses the light that passes through the spectral distribution correction filter 54 and enters each lens of the integrator 56. Since the real image forms an image on the imaging plane with a deviation from the center axis of each lens, the real image is dispersed into multiple light sources as shown in FIG. 11 and is superposed by collimating the collimator lens as a whole. Therefore, the irradiance acts to be uniform.

  In general, the light collected by the condenser mirror 52 tends to be stronger in the central portion than the peripheral portion in the intensity distribution on the plane perpendicular to the optical axis, and a dimming plate is disposed in the central portion of the integrator 56 as necessary. There is also a method of adjusting the unevenness of the irradiance.

  The light that has been made into multiple light sources by the integrator 56 is reflected by the second reflecting mirror 57 and directed downward (see FIG. 6).

  The collimator lens 58 collimates the multi-light source light reflected by the second reflecting mirror 58 as a multi-light source on the focal plane, and irradiates the solar cell 61 to be measured disposed on the base 59.

  As described above, the solar cell 61 to be measured is irradiated with pseudo-sunlight conforming to the standard, and the characteristics of the solar cell 61 to be measured can be measured.

  In order to prevent light from being emitted to the outside, the optical path portion from the xenon short arc lamp 51 to the collimator lens 58 is covered with a light shielding member (not shown).

JP 2009-103535 A JP 2008-300632 A JP 2008-123951 A

  As described above, the conventional general solar simulator has an integrator and uniformizes the irradiance of the irradiation light.

  As described above, the integrator is usually made of fused silica glass or the like, and forms a lens having a honeycomb structure or a lattice structure. In order to improve the degree of light uniformity with a conventional integrator, a lens with a smaller cross-sectional area must be formed, which is technically and costly limited. Therefore, the light irradiance is made uniform by the integrator. There were limits.

  Since integrators have to form a large number of lenses with a small cross-sectional area in principle, they are expensive and have been a factor in increasing the overall price of the solar simulator.

  The conventional general solar simulator requires a long light path from the condenser mirror to the integrator, and the first reflecting mirror is provided in order to place this long light path in the solar simulator. The solar simulator device was enlarged due to the need to pay.

  In addition, in recent years, solar cells have become larger in area and collimator lenses have a larger diameter. In order to shine light on these large-diameter collimator lenses, the distance between the integrator and the collimator lens must be increased. I must.

  For this reason, in the conventional solar simulator, it is necessary to provide a second reflecting mirror in order to place a long optical path from the integrator to the collimator lens in the solar simulator. In the same way, however, the solar simulator device has been enlarged to accommodate the reflecting mirror and the condensed light path.

  In order to irradiate the above-mentioned large area with simulated sunlight, the diameter of the collimator lens has recently exceeded 350 mm, and the thickness of the center of the lens has reached 150 mm. For this reason, not only the size of the collimator lens but also the weight is increased, and the price is increased.

  The collimator lens collimates the light, but in order to increase the parallelism, the distance between the collimator lens and the integrator must be sufficiently large. This also increases the size of the device.

  Conventional solar simulators inevitably have dust and the like attached to integrators, collimator lenses, and reflectors, and require regular maintenance. In particular, when replacing the reflector, integrator, and collimator lens, operations such as removal of the xenon short arc lamp and readjustment of the optical axis occur, and maintenance work is complicated.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional solar simulator and to provide a solar simulator that is simple in structure and can be miniaturized by removing the integrator, collimator lens, and reflecting mirror. is there.

The solar simulator according to the present invention is
A light source unit having a light source lamp and a condensing mirror for condensing the light from the light source lamp;
A shutter that passes or blocks light from the light source unit;
A spectral distribution correction filter that corrects the spectral distribution of light from the light source unit to approximate the spectral distribution of sunlight;
An optical fiber bundle light guide member that is made of a bundle of optical fibers and that guides light that has passed through the spectral distribution correction filter from a light incident end surface to a predetermined location;
It consists of a plurality of optical fiber lenses, and each optical fiber lens is coupled to each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member so as to be able to transmit light, and each optical fiber lens makes the light of the optical fiber incident from the incident end face and emits parallel light from the outgoing end face. An optical fiber lens that is adjusted in focal length to
Each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member is arranged such that optical fibers having different amounts of light are arbitrarily arranged so that the irradiance on the irradiation surface of the emitted light of the optical fiber lens is uniform. It is characterized by being coupled to.

  The solar simulator according to the present invention has a lattice-shaped guide fixture for coupling individual optical fibers to any single or a plurality of optical fiber lenses in the combination of the optical fiber bundle light guide member and each optical fiber lens, and further the lattice shape The guide fixture has a function of finely adjusting the fixed position in the direction of the optical axis of the optical fiber lens and a function of finely adjusting the irradiance partially.

  The incident end face of the optical fiber bundle light guide member may be arranged at a position closer to the condenser mirror than the vicinity of the focal point of the light reflected by the condenser mirror.

  According to the present invention, there is used an optical fiber bundle light guide member which is made of an optical fiber bundle and guides light passing through the spectral distribution correction filter from an incident end face to a predetermined place.

  The optical fiber bundle light guide member can guide light to an arbitrary place by using an optical fiber without using a reflecting mirror.

  For this reason, the conventional reflecting mirror can be dispensed with and the apparatus can be miniaturized.

  In addition, the present invention couples each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member to each optical fiber lens of the optical fiber lens so that optical fibers having different amounts of light are mixed so that the irradiance of the outgoing light of the optical fiber lens becomes uniform. As a result, the irradiance of the irradiated region can be made uniform without using a conventional integrator. For this reason, an expensive integrator can be made unnecessary and the manufacturing cost of the solar simulator can be reduced.

  The present invention also has a plurality of optical fiber lenses. Each optical fiber lens is coupled to each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member so as to be able to transmit light, and has a focal length adjusted so that light from the optical fiber is incident from the incident end face and parallel light is emitted from the outgoing end face.

  That is, the optical fiber lens of the present invention can make the light of each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member into parallel light, so that the conventional collimator lens can be dispensed with.

  Further, since the optical fiber lens of the present invention is composed of a plurality of optical fiber lenses, it can be coped with by increasing the number of optical fiber lenses even when the area irradiated with parallel light is enlarged, and the central portion becomes thicker according to the diameter. There is nothing.

  For this reason, it is possible to avoid an increase in weight due to an increase in the diameter of the collimator lens in the prior art.

  Further, when emitting parallel light from the end face of the optical fiber lens, a focal point can be provided at a short distance from the end face, and the length of the optical fiber can be shortened. In addition, since it is composed of a larger number of lenses than a conventional integrator, a uniform planar distribution can be easily achieved. For this reason, according to this invention, the distance between an optical fiber lens and a to-be-measured solar cell can be shortened, and, thereby, the whole apparatus of a solar simulator can be reduced in size.

  When the reflecting mirror is not required, the attenuation of light irradiance is reduced, the power applied to the xenon short arc lamp can be reduced, and the life of the xenon short arc lamp can be extended.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the need for an integrator, a collimator lens, and a reflecting mirror, and it is possible to obtain a solar simulator that is easy to maintain without requiring operations such as replacement of the reflecting mirror and readjustment of the optical axis. it can.

1 is a configuration conceptual diagram of a solar simulator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the coupling | bonding of an optical fiber and an optical fiber lens. Explanatory drawing of the principle of an optical fiber lens. The figure explaining the coupling | bonding method of the optical fiber of an optical fiber bundle light guide member and the optical fiber lens which equalize the irradiance plane distribution of an optical fiber lens. The block diagram of the solar simulator by other embodiment of this invention. The block diagram of the conventional solar simulator. The block diagram of the coupling | bonding of the optical fiber bundle light guide member of this invention and each optical fiber lens. Detailed view of the lattice-shaped guide fixture of the present invention. The perspective view of the female screw guide of the lattice-shaped guide fixing tool of this invention and the screw for optical fiber optical axis distance adjustment. The block diagram of the example of the conventional integrator. The principle figure of the conventional integrator example.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a solar simulator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the solar simulator 1 of this embodiment includes a xenon short arc lamp (light source lamp) 2, a condenser mirror 3, a shutter 4, a spectral distribution correction filter 5, and an optical fiber bundle light guide member 6. And an optical fiber lens bundle 7.

  The condensing mirror 3 has a spheroid surface and the inner surface is a reflecting surface, and the xenon short arc lamp 2 light-emitting portion is disposed at the position of the first focal point of the spheroid of the condensing mirror 3.

  The shutter 4 is a means that can pass or block light. The shutter 4 blocks light except when necessary in order to minimize the temperature rise of the solar cell to be measured due to light irradiation. Light is irradiated for the minimum time necessary for measuring the characteristics of the solar cell.

  The spectral distribution correction filter 5 is means for attenuating light having a predetermined wavelength.

  The shutter 4 and the spectral distribution correction filter 5 are not limited to the order of the shutter 4 and the spectral distribution correction filter 5, but may be the order of the spectral distribution correction filter 5 and the shutter 4.

  The optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 is composed of a large number of optical fibers, and has a function of introducing light that has passed through the shutter 4 and the spectral distribution correction filter 5 from the incident end face 6a and guiding it to a predetermined place.

  The optical fiber lens 8 is coupled to each optical fiber 9 of the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 so as to be able to transmit light.

  FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a coupling portion between the optical fiber lens bundle 7 and the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 has a plurality of optical fibers 9, and the optical fiber 9 is spread at the end of the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6. The end of each optical fiber 9 is coupled to each optical fiber lens 8 of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 so that light can be transmitted.

  FIG. 2 conceptually shows “light transmission possible” coupling between the optical fiber 9 and the optical fiber lens 8.

  The optical fiber lens bundle 7 collimates the light from the optical fiber 9 and irradiates the irradiation surface 10.

  That is, the optical fiber lens bundle 7 has a function of collimating light emitted from the end of the fiber 9. A method of collimating and homogenizing light using the optical fiber lens bundle 7 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the function of collimating light by the optical fiber lens.

  The optical fiber lens 8 has a distribution on a parabola in which the refractive index is the highest on the center line and the refractive index is lower toward the periphery. For this reason, the light rays inside the optical fiber lens 8 travel in a sine wave shape with a pitch length P as a cycle, and image formation is repeated for each length P / 2.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the focal length of the optical fiber lens 8 can be changed by changing the lens length L. By taking an appropriate lens length L, the light emitted from the end of the optical fiber 9 is collimated and irradiated. The surface 10 can be irradiated.

  Therefore, the optical fiber lens 8 of the present invention adjusts the focal position so that the light emitted from the end of the optical fiber 9 is collimated.

  Next, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the function of making the light uniform by the optical fiber lens bundle 7.

  In the present invention, with respect to the optical fiber 9 spread from the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6, for example, as shown in FIG. The optical fiber 9 is coupled to each optical fiber lens 8 of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 so that different optical fibers 9 are arbitrarily arranged.

  In addition, the method of arbitrary arrangement | sequence of the optical fiber 9 from which light quantity differs is not restricted to the arrangement | sequence shown by FIG. 4 as long as the irradiance of the irradiation light of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 becomes uniform.

  As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the parallel distribution intensity is uniform from the optical fiber lens bundle 7 by the coupling method of the optical fiber lenses 8 of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 and the optical fibers 9 of the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6. The irradiation surface 10 can be irradiated with light close to.

  For this reason, an integrator having a conventional lens structure can be eliminated, and an inexpensive and simple solar simulator can be obtained.

  Further, by adjusting the focal length of each optical fiber lens 8 of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 of the present invention, the light emitted from the optical fiber 9 can be converted into parallel light.

  This eliminates the need for a collimator lens, which has been necessary in the past, and provides a solar simulator that is inexpensive and has a simple structure.

  Furthermore, the conventional collimator lens has a large diameter and a large thickness when the irradiation area of the pseudo sunlight is large, which increases the weight and price.

  On the other hand, since the optical fiber lens bundle 7 of the present invention has the optical fiber lens 8 formed in a columnar shape, it is only necessary to increase the number of the optical fiber lenses 8 even when the irradiation area of the pseudo sunlight is large. Does not make it thicker.

  Thereby, the solar simulator with a large irradiation area can be obtained while suppressing an increase in weight and price.

  Further, as described with reference to FIG. 1, according to the present invention, a reflecting mirror can be omitted, and the distance between the collecting mirror 3 and the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 can be shortened. The simulator 1 can be downsized.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to deal with a large area by increasing the number of optical fiber lenses 8.

  As described above, according to the solar simulator 1 of the present embodiment, an integrator, a collimator lens, and a reflecting mirror of a conventional solar simulator can be eliminated, and an inexpensive and simple structure solar simulator can be obtained. .

  By eliminating the need for the reflector of the conventional solar simulator, the decrease in the amount of light is reduced, the power applied to the xenon short arc lamp can be reduced, and the life of the xenon short arc lamp can be extended. In addition, a solar simulator that is easy to maintain can be obtained without any work such as removal of the xenon short arc lamp and readjustment of the optical axis accompanying the replacement of the reflecting mirror.

  Next, FIG. 5 shows a solar simulator 11 according to another embodiment of the present invention. In order to facilitate understanding in FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

  In the solar simulator 11 of this embodiment, the condensing mirror 3 collects the light from the xenon short arc lamp 2 and irradiates it upward, and the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 is bent in a U shape or an inverted U shape, The light from the condensing mirror 3 is incident and guided to the optical fiber lens bundle 7 arranged horizontally next to the xenon short arc lamp 2 and the condensing mirror 3. The optical fiber lens bundle 7 irradiates the irradiation surface 10 with the light from the optical fiber 9 of the optical fiber bundle light guide member 6 as parallel light.

  According to the solar simulator 11 of this embodiment, the horizontal dimension of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

  Moreover, since each optical fiber lens 8 of the optical fiber lens bundle 7 can irradiate parallel light at a short distance, the distance D between the optical fiber lens bundle 7 and the irradiation surface 10 shown in FIG. 5 can be reduced. Thereby, the dimension of the vertical direction of the whole apparatus can also be made small.

  That is, according to this embodiment, a small device can be obtained while having the same function as the conventional solar simulator.

  FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of the coupling between the optical fiber bundle light guide member of the present invention and each optical fiber lens. When each optical fiber bundle light guide member is inserted from above, the lattice-shaped guide fixture fixes the position of the surface perpendicular to the optical axis. On the other hand, the inside of the lattice-shaped guide fixture has a wall surface that is threaded outside the surface on which the optical fiber bundle light guide member is fixed. Therefore, the position of the optical fiber bundle light guide member in the optical axis direction is finely adjusted by rotating the optical fiber optical axis distance adjustment screw of each optical fiber bundle light guide member fixed to the female screw of the lattice-shaped guide fixture. can do. Thereby, the distance from the focal point of the optical fiber lens to the optical fiber exit surface can be finely adjusted in the optical axis direction, and the irradiance can be finely adjusted for each optical fiber.

  FIG. 8 shows a detailed view of the lattice-shaped guide fixture for coupling the optical fiber bundle light guide member of the present invention and each optical fiber lens.

  FIG. 9 shows details of the lattice-shaped guide fixture of the present invention. Each optical fiber is first inserted into the optical fiber optical axis distance adjusting screw, and in that state, the same screw is inserted into the female screw guide in the lattice-shaped guide fixture, and then rotated, depending on the amount of rotation. The axial distance can be adjusted.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Solar simulator 2 Xenon short arc lamp 3 Condensing mirror 4 Shutter 5 Spectral distribution correction filter 6 Optical fiber bundle light guide member 7 Optical fiber lens bundle 8 Optical fiber lens 9 Optical fiber 10 Irradiation surface 11 Solar simulator 50 Solar simulator 51 Xenon short arc lamp 52 Collection Optical mirror 53 First reflecting mirror 54 Spectral distribution correction filter 55 Shutter 56 Integrator 57 Second reflecting mirror 58 Collimator lens 59 Base 60 Frame D Distance between the optical fiber lens and the solar cell to be measured L Optical fiber lens length of the optical fiber lens P Pitch length that light travels through optical fiber lens

Claims (4)

A light source unit having a light source lamp and a condensing mirror for collecting the light emitted from the light source lamp;
A shutter that passes or blocks light from the light source unit;
A spectral distribution correction filter that corrects the spectral distribution of light from the light source unit to approximate the spectral distribution of sunlight;
An optical fiber bundle light guide member that is made up of a bundle of a plurality of optical fibers, guides light that has passed through the spectral distribution correction filter from an incident end face, and guides the light to a predetermined place;
Each optical fiber lens is coupled to each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member so as to be able to transmit light, and each optical fiber lens allows the light from the optical fiber to enter from the incident end face and emits parallel light from the output end face. An optical fiber lens, the focal length of which is adjusted to emit,
Each optical fiber of the optical fiber bundle light guide member is arranged so that optical fibers of different light quantities are arbitrarily arranged and coupled so that the irradiance on the irradiation surface of the emitted light of the optical fiber lens is uniform. Solar simulator characterized by being coupled to   2. The solar simulator according to claim 1, wherein an incident end face of the optical fiber bundle light guide member is disposed at a position closer to the condenser mirror than a vicinity of a focal point of light reflected by the condenser mirror. .   The solar simulator having a lattice-shaped guide fixture for coupling an individual optical fiber to an arbitrary single optical fiber lens or a plurality of optical fiber lenses in coupling the optical fiber bundle light guide member and the optical fiber lens.   In the lattice-shaped guide fixture, a solar simulator having a function of finely adjusting the fixed position in the optical axis direction of the optical fiber lens and a function of adjusting the irradiance distribution by finely adjusting the fixed position for each optical fiber. .