SynLight – the world’s largest artificial sun

High-flux solar simulators, providing predictable and reproducible solar radiation, have emerged to indispensable tools for efficient development of CSP components or solar chemical processes. In the last decade, a number of such facilities have been erected, however significantly below the typical scale of pilot plants. DLR started the construction of a large solar simulator in Jülich near its solar power tower. The facilities’ modular design is novel and characterized by 149 individually controllable 7kW Xenon short-arc lamps. Solar radiant powers of up to 280kW and 2 x 220kW are expected to be available in three separately useable radiation chambers. In 2017, the large artificial sun shall be available for the global CSP and solar chemical community within cooperative research projects.