Kipp & Zonen radiation sensors have been used for meteorological purposes for over 50 years. But in the last 10 to 15 years their use in industrial test and measurement has been growing continuously. However, many industrial applications require measurements in environmental testing where the ambient temperature and the intensity of the radiation are considerably higher than naturally occur in meteorology.
Solar simulation in climate chambers is mostly used for accelerated ageing or heat load tests. For example, the testing of materials, components, and even complete vehicles.
For the simulation of global solar radiation in climate chambers, metal-halide lamps are normally used as the radiation sources. One of the main benefits of these lamps is their similarity to the spectral range of global solar radiation from 280 nm to 3000 nm. Other lamps, such as Xenon, are used to simulate high levels of UV radiation.
Pyranometers serve as the measuring devices to check or verify the light intensity (irradiance) at various positions within the given test environment. And to monitor the spectral power distribution and its uniformity within a predefined reference area.