Development of a New LED-Based Solar Simulator for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Characterization

Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is an effective method of producing renewable energy providing also one or more functions of the building envelope. Among PV solutions, bifacial PV module technology captures sunlight from both the front and rear sides, increasing the module's power output per square meter. The evaluation of the overall performance of these cells is not easy because the irradiance conditions on the back side is variable. This article describes the design of a versatile light-emitting diode (LED) based solar simulator with independently controlled high-power LEDs. This laboratory-scale setup is designed to be suitable for the tests of bifacial cells reproducing the lighting conditions typical of the back side of the cells. To this aim an office configuration with bifacial PV glazing windows was simulated in DIALux to analyze the irradiance and lighting conditions on the glazing pane from inside environment. The results are used to choose the geometry features, the materials, and the operation mode of the lamps of the simulator.