Photovoltaic module measurements are predominantly taken by using pulsed solar simulators. However, significant errors can be generated when the existing simulators are applied to current high-efficiency crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules. This paper presents the design and implementation of a novel solar simulator featuring reflection-type light source and single long-pulse flash. The analysis and experimental study of the capacitance effect and the technical details of the simulator including reflection-type lamp house, xenon flash lamp power supply, and source-measure unit are introduced. The results show that the complete system achieves Class AAA performance in accordance with the international standard. The proposed simulator outperforms other similar products on the market and has been adopted by some well-known photovoltaic module manufacturers. The practical application demonstrates that this high-performance and cost-effective simulator is quite suitable for photovoltaic module production line.
This paper presents the development of a cost-effective precision fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation system using long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Tuning properties of a long-wavelength VCSEL have been studied experimentally. An approximately quadratic dependence of its wavelength on the injection current has been observed. The overall design and key operations of this system including intensity normalization, peak detection, and quadratic curve fitting are introduced in detail. The results show that the system achieves an accuracy of 1.2 pm with a tuning range of 3 nm and a tuning rate of 1 kHz. It is demonstrated that this system is practical and effective by applied in the FBG transformer temperature monitoring.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.