The term "Full Spectrum" implies that a lamp is designed to produce energy across the full visible spectrum. This term is often used to describe metal halide arc tube lamps. At best, this is only partially true. While most metal halide lamps have chemistry corrected to produce at least some energy across the visible spectrum (roughly 400nm to 750nm), the energy content at many wavelengths is almost non-existent. Additionally, there is typically no electromagnetic energy content above 750nm or below 400nm. For solar simulation applications, this is unacceptable. 

EYE Lighting / Iwasaki Electric designs and manufactures the lighting source (lamp) along with the solar simulation equipment. This integrated approach is unique in the marketplace. Any solar simulation system is only as good as the lighting source. Our systems are designed from inception around the proper lighting source for the particular application. This ensures outstanding yet efficient system performance.

EYE Lighting / Iwasaki develops and produces a complete range of lighting technology including full spectrum metal halide, xenon, halogen, and mercury and metal halide based UV lamps designed specifically for solar simulation applications. Whether for PV cell development, PV module aging, or PV module production verification, we have the solution best suited to your needs. We are often able to offer a number of options to provide a selection of cost/performance solutions.

Comparison of EYE Lighting / Iwasaki Solarlux™ technology vs. Standard Metal Halide Technology
Actual Daylight (D65 standard)	EYE / Iwasaki Solarlux™ 150R	Standard Metal Halide Technology

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Choose The Price / Performance To Fit Your Application

Because we design and manufacture a complete range of lighting technologies, you can select the lighting solution most appropriate for your particular application. International standards (ASTM, IEC, and JIS) document three classifications for solar simulation lighting. These standards include specifications for Spectral Matching, Irradiation Non-uniformity, and Temporal Stability (see section on ASTM / IEC Standards). With respect to spectral matching, there are three classifications; Class C, Class B, and Class A, with Class A being the closest to the defined solar spectral energy standard. While it might seem advantageous to always use Class A lighting, the fact is that this is not required, nor is it usually economically practical. On the other hand, standard metal halide lighting will not even meet Class C spectral requirements let alone its inherent cycling effects (see section on Temporal Stability). In fact, ASTM/IEC only specifies Class B spectral matching for the most critical simulation testing, including "Max Power Determination", and specifies Class C for applications such as light soaking. EYE Lighting / Iwasaki is unique in our broad selection of continuous lighting solutions for both Class C and Class B requirements. Our High Intensity full spectrum lighting systems have demonstrated unmatched performance in demanding applications such as semiconductor wafer inspection equipment.

Below is just one example. Although this lamp must be qualified as Class B, its performance is extremely close to the ASTM/IEC Class A standard.

 

Actual IEC spectral match photometry test of random sample Solarlux™ 150R lamp
	This compliance chart illustrates the performance of our medium power 150W Solarlux™ solar simulation lamp. These reflectorized lamps do not require any luminaries or fixtures and are ideal for STC performance testing, I-V measurements and PV development work. EYE Lighting / Iwasaki offers a selection from 35W to 4000W to ensure the most efficient system design.

EYE / Iwasaki Proprietary Solar Simulation Lighting Solutions

• A complete family of proprietary technology Solarlux™ lamps provide a continuous "sunlight equivalent" simulation environment

• Halogen technology products provide special application testing and solar heating capability

• Xenon lamps, combined with proper filtering, provide true IEC Class A spectral matching for critical testing applications

• Special UV and IR products provide selected irradiation bandwidths for industrial production, durability, and quality testing applications

• Custom filter designs provide additional band pass and spectral cut-off capability for specific test requirements 

 

The UV spectrum is defined as the electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from 100nm to 400nm. The useful UV waveband, however, is really composed of just three segments; UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C, covering the waveband from 180nm to 400nm.

In addition to the aforementioned black lights (actually black light-blue or BLB lamps), UV-A is most popular today as the light source for the infamous "bug zappers". This is because UV-A happens to encompass the spectrum that most insects seek out, specifically the wavelengths between 350nm to 370nm. UV-B light sources have become very popular recently since this spectrum includes the wavelengths that are employed by UV tanning bed lamps. The short wavelengths in the UV-C band are the highest energy and most dangerous to living tissue. UV-C energy penetrates deeply and directly attacks DNA. Until recently this wave band did not get much attention because UV-C rays are filtered by our atmosphere. This extremely harmful energy can, however, be very beneficial. For over a decade Iwasaki Electric has designed and manufactured sterilization equipment using proprietary UV-C light sources. This equipment, designed to kill harmful bacteria and viruses, is used in the food industry, municipal water purification systems, public swimming pools, and air filtration systems in hospitals.

Since our atmosphere filters out UV-C wavelengths, only UV-A and UV-B wave bands are of interest for solar simulation applications. As with the visible light spectrum, the spectral irradiance distribution for UV-B and UV-A radiation is clearly defined in IEC standard 60904-3. Little, if any, of this energy is converted to electricity by PV cells. The primary reason for UV simulation systems is to test products for outdoor exposure durability. The ability of a simulation system to produce high energy levels of UV, along with the ability to operate 24 hours per day, provides significantly accelerated life testing. EYE Lighting / Iwasaki has developed UV systems that supply the equivalent energy of up to thirty (30) times the solar standard. Coupled with 24 hour operation, these systems can easily produce the exposure effects of a full year in less than one week of testing. As with visible solar lighting simulation, it is important that any UV test system closely replicates the actual solar energy profile to ensure test validity and repeatability.

To meet these varied application requirements, EYE Lighting / Iwasaki has developed a complete line of proprietary UV light technologies:

High-purity mercury (Hg) and trace rare gas are sealed into a quartz luminous tube. This lamp efficiently irradiates with 254, 303, 313, and 365nm ultraviolet rays, where 65nm is the main wavelength.

Infrared radiation is commonly referred to as "heat radiation", although actually any part of the electromagnetic spectrum will produce heat on an object depending upon its absorption of a particular wavelength. Anyone who has watched a recent action movie has seen IR in use as this is the basis for infrared imaging systems. These systems are able to view the IR "heat" radiated by the human body. IR is also the light workhorse for many industrial manufacturing processes. Iwasaki Electric has provided IR based manufacturing systems to cure coatings, form plastics, and produce semi-conductor assemblies for almost two decades..

For PV cell and module development testing, only a portion of the IR spectrum (700nm to 4000nm) is used. For durability and heat cycling applications broad spectrum IR systems are extremely effective. Additionally, Iwasaki has developed a complete family of specialty IR lamps for demanding applications such as Rapid Thermal Processing in semiconductor manufacturing.

For many solar simulation applications, the near infrared region (IR-A), from 700nm to 1,100nm, is an integral part of the "Global Reference Spectral Irradiance Standard" accepted by ASTM / IEC / JIS for global AM 1.5 as defined in IEC standard 60904-3. EYE Lighting / Iwasaki has developed a wide range of lighting sources, from Class C to Class A, that meet the IR energy requirement included with this reference standard. This allows you to select the best price / performance solution for your test requirements.

Additionally, our exclusive line of IR light sources and systems provide controllable and repeatable IR thermal environments for heat cycling and accelerated life testing. We also have a complete line of IR lamps and reflectors for solar heat loading applications.

High Output Industrial IR

Biaxial stretch-blow molding machines mould plastic bottles such as PET bottles. There are several different molding machines to handle different production types of preform installation - preform heating; blow molding, and bottle discharge. Of these processes, preform heating is considered especially important in terms of uniformity and stability. For this reason, Iwasaki's EYE halogen lamp was selected because its light source matches the radiation wavelength suitable for plastic material, its heat output is almost immediate, and it offers long lamp life. The lamps can be installed up to ten tiers, allowing fine adjustments to be made to each product, if required.