2026-10-11T22:48:25Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33741088 2026-09-14T13:45:04Z portal_1197 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data for Design and commissioning of a virtual image solar simulator for testing thermal collectors Roger W. Moss (24850936) G. S. F. Shire (24766369) Philip C. Eames (7149314) Paul Henshall (7041101) T. Hyde (24766090) Farid Arya (1390246) Solar collectors -- Research Solar energy -- Research Heat storage devices Migrated from ePrints A solar simulator has been designed and built for testing prototype (0.5×0.5 m) flat plate thermal collectors. An internally reflecting light tube generates multiple virtual images of the four halogen floodlights to ensure uniform illumination. Ray-tracing simulations were used to choose the tube dimensions and maximum allowable clearance. Illumination measurements agree well with these predictions. The visible & near IR spectrum appears to follow a black body curve. In the absence of a “cold sky” IR filter there is a secondary, long wavelength IR spectral component that causes heating of the cover glass on a solar flat plate collector. The cover glass temperature can be maintained at typical outdoor levels using a cooling fan. The design would be well suited to LED illumination. Simulation of solar collector response to this spectrum shows that an efficiency based on pyranometer readings is approximately 1% higher than would be obtained with an AM1.5 spectrum.<br><br>This code runs in Matlab r2017a. Typically a script file will either produce a single figure or is designed to be run in sections, producing one graph after another. The function files are almost always called by script files. 2017-11-23T00:00:00Z Dataset Dataset 10.82444/warw.33741088.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_for_Design_and_commissioning_of_a_virtual_image_solar_simulator_for_testing_thermal_collectors/33741088 CC BY 4.0