Lateral solar panel

A lateral solar panel is installed in both climatic wind tunnels to simulate solar radiation on vehicle side wall and roof areas at a 30° angle of incidence. The panels are arranged to cover the roof and one side of the vehicle to ensure homogenous radiation input. The intensity can be continuously adjusted from 250 W/m² to 1000 W/m². The solar radiation panel in the large CWT is 47.5 m long, the one in the smaller CWT 30 m.

The uniformity of the radiation intensity on the vehicle surface is ±120 W/m² in the range from 250 to 600 W/m² and ±100 W/m² in the range from 600 to 1000 W/m². These values apply to heights of 750 mm to 4300 mm above the ground and the entire length of the solar panel.

Another solar panel is installed in the flow area of each test section in order to simulate solar radiation on the front parts of a vehicle, such as the driver’s cab. The panel is arranged so as not to disturb flow characteristics and can be adapted to vehicle geometries, i.e. the angle of incidence can be varied from 0° to 90°. Again, the radiation intensity can be freely adjusted from 250 W/m² to 1000 W/m².

The table shows the spectral distribution of the solar simulation equipment installed: