Industry - Aerospace
Accurate and Flexible Solar Simulation for the Aerospace Industry
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Industry - Aerospace
See more. Go further.
You’re reaching for the stars. We’ll provide the sun.
Millions (or billions) of dollars. Millions of miles. The future of flight. There is a lot at stake in every aerospace innovation, whether it’s a novel material for radiation-hardened space travel, part of an attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS), or part of a satellite’s solar battery. That’s why aerospace solar simulation has to be more than “close enough.”
When everything is on the line, you need perfection. You need the most accurate and precise lights for your ground testing so you know they’re representative of what will happen in flight. You also need to adjust your light to probe sub-junctions and specific material characteristics, on-demand.
At G2V, we’ve created large-area solar simulation lights that provide the precision and flexibility you need to get the right results. Every time.
Featured Innovation
Big ideas need solar replication technology that’s just as big without compromising spectral match or reproducibility.
With the ability to provide illumination in a confined space or your entire testing facility, the G2V Class AAA LED Sunbrick produces light in a wide spectral range in the size you need, so you can test a more complete spectrum. G2V’s LED technology also gives you full spectral control when you need that flexibility.
Some of its features include:
Your innovations need to take flight. Let the Sunbrick light the way.
More than nearly any other industry, aerospace is becoming increasingly reliant on solar power, both to fuel existing technologies and propel us even farther into space. That’s why it is crucial to understand space solar cell design, physics, and materials.
Our comprehensive photovoltaics article looks at:
Featured Innovations
You’re building something great. Our solar replication technologies mean you don’t have to worry about accurate light.
Aerospace technologies need to test a variety of facets beyond light responsivity and degradation. The Pico small-area solar simulator has a small form factor so you can integrate solar simulation with your glove-box or weather chamber, and do the cross-functional testing you need as part of validation and ground-testing.
Get a light that will work with your existing equipment.
Your systems are preparing for flight, and you want full-scale testing. The Sunbrick large-area solar simulator has a tileable design that can scale to arbitrary sizes so you can test your entire device under highly-accurate sunlight. High LED efficiencies and low drive current mean a long lifetime and minimal heat dissipation for your controlled environments.
Get a solution that can grow with the test area of your development.
Problem: The OSAM-1 Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Center needed highly controllable, precise light to ground test mission spacecraft on the ground in the same conditions it would experience in flight.
Innovation: G2V was contracted to provide research-grade lighting to replicate the precise conditions required for this project.
Outcome:
Our maximum spectral range is currently from 350 nm to 1450 nm. While there are some LEDs that reach higher and lower wavelengths, their performance and cost are not quite at the level needed for a robust and competitive solar simulator solution. G2V is always monitoring LED material developments, however, so if a wider spectral range is needed for your application, get in touch and we can discuss the possibility of a custom solution, or the inclusion of such a solution in our product roadmap.
No. We currently only offer the IV and EQE modules with the Pico. If any of them are of interest to you on the Sunbrick, please let us know as that will help us prioritize it on our product roadmap.
The Sunbrick and the directed Pico models produce light with an angular full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of approximately 20 to 30 degrees. The Lambertian Pico produces light with a Lambertian angular distribution. If you require a slightly different angular distribution for your application, get in touch and we can discuss possible solutions.
We produce a Class A spectral match with <5% spectral mismatch for AM0.
Our solar simulators offer the ability to tune every LED channel (up to 32 channels in the Pico, and up to 36 channels in the Sunbrick), giving you the ability to probe the spectral responsivity via many different types of LEDs. The resolution of this tunability is ultimately determined by the available LEDs in a given product — get in touch if you would like an exact list to compare against your multi-junction responsivity functions.
With our off-the-shelf stands, the solar simulators cannot be tilted. The Pico’s smaller size makes it much easier to tilt via standard optomechanical mounts from THORLABS and Edmund Optics. The Sunbrick’s larger form factor would require a custom stand to facilitate tilting.
No, our solar simulator is not designed for vacuum. Our solar simulators have not been designed for long working distances without a large sacrifice in power and uniformity, so beaming the light into a chamber for long distances is not currently viable.
We provide Python APIs for both the Pico and Sunbrick, which allow the solar simulators to be automated via Python scripts. For the Sunbrick, we also have a LabView DLL that can be used for automation.
Knowledge Base
We make sure that our customers have access to resources that help them understand more not only about the products we offer, but related applications and standards. Visit the knowledge base to learn more about LED illumination, Class AAA standards, Photovoltaics and much more. Knowledge is solar power.
Solar Simulation
Today’s project. Tomorrow’s dream. No matter what you are planning, you deserve the information you need, right when you need it.
That’s why we’d love to be in touch. We want to know if our innovations can make your project work better, your research be more accurate, and your product get to market more quickly. So let’s talk about your needs. We’re curious about what you’re working on.
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