Looking for information about equipment and pricing of tools available through Case School of Engineering’s Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension (SDLE) Research Center at Case Western Reserve University? You’ve come to the right place.
Capabilities and Equipment
The SDLE Center labs offer a wide variety of equipment and capabilities in environmental exposure and materials evaluation, including spectrophotometry, scatterometry, and other analysis methods.
Sample Preparation
- Clean room with deposition and characterization capabilities
- Sample preparation lab for inspection and metallography
- Mini-module lab for sample lamination
Newport Oriel Diverging Solar Simulators
These solar simulators use a 1.6kW xenon arc lamp to produce a continuous, diverging beam of light. One of our solar simulators is equipped with a concentrating lens to allow for a wider range of irradiances.
- Full spectrum AM1.5D continuous exposure
- Diverging beam provides variable irradiances at different working plane distances
- Irradiances from 0.5 to 48 kW/m^2 (with 13x concentrator)
For context, total AM1.5D annual doses are:
1 Sun 9.3 GJ/m^2/yr
4 Suns 37.2 GJ/m^2/yr
50 Suns 465.0 GJ/m^2/yr
SpectroLab XT30 Solar Simulator
The Spectrolab XT30 is one of the most powerful solar simulators available. It uses the same 3kW Xenon Arc bulb as a military helicopter searchlight. It is so powerful that, if samples are not properly water cooled, the beam can cause semiconductors to catch fire. Some of its useful features include:
- Continuous wave 3kW Xenon arc source with a variety of spectrum filters
- Stand with control and positioning, thermal mounts, and irradiance mapping and calibration
- IV measurement equipment
- 1200x Suns at 1/2 x 1/2 cm^2 area
- 500x Suns at 1 x 1 cm^2 area
- 100x Suns at 6 x 6 cm^2 area
Q-Lab Weathering Chambers
Q-Lab is a leader in the manufacturing of weathering equipment, as well as outdoor weathering and accelerated testing. The S-DLE Center has a full line of Q-Lab weathering equipment, capable of UV exposure, full spectrum exposure, humidity, spray or corrosive salt fog.
Two QUV/Spray
- 340nm UV exposure
- Water spray
QSun
- Full Spectrum exposure with Xe lamps
- Condensing humidity
QFog
- Corrosive salt fog exposure chamber
- Excellent for weathering of metallic films, interfaces
CSZ Environmental Test Chambers
Cincinnati Sub Zero manufactures a range of environmental test chambers (ETCs) that are capable of heat and humidity cycling over a wide range of temperatures, even with large heat loads in the chamber (from running equipment, e.g.). These chambers are capable of running a wide variety of standard test procedures as well as custom tests.
- Two 3 cubic foot ETCs (MCHS-3)
- One 8 cubic foot ETC (ZPH-8)
One Large ETC (SPHS-100)
- Capacity of 10 full-size (1m x 1.6m) modules
- Full IEC testing capabilities
- Panels may be placed under external load
Two-module Full-sun HID Illumination within ETC
The SPHS-100 will also be outfitted with a full-sun HID lights rack that can be placed in the chamber, allowing for true multi factor testing of two solar panels. This allows the ability to devise custom, concurrent multi-factor tests, as well as qualification tests to compare different brands of modules under aggressive conditions.
VUV-LPLS Spectrophotometer
- Samarium Laser Plasma Light Source
- Extended Spectral Range in UV
- 1.5 to 44 eV
- 700 to 28 nm
- Valuable for Determining Electronic Structure of Polymers
- Hierarchy of transitions in comparable polymers
Filmetrics PARTS-UV Spectrometer
- Perpendicular and Angled Reflectance, Transmittance and Scatterometry
- 200-1100nm Range
- Measurement of film thickness, n and k, surface roughness
- Full-featured fitting software
Agilent Cary 6000i UV-Vis-IR Spectrophotometer
UV/Vis/NIR from 175nm-1800nm
Capable of measuring:
- Abs/cm
- Haze
- Transmission
- Reflectance
Diffuse Reflectance Accessory
- DRA integrating sphere
- Polarizer
- Small spot kit for analysis of small areas
Excellent S/N in the NIR with InGaAs detector, and excellent for accurate and detailed spectral analysis of materials.
ScatterMaster ScatterScope3D
Quantitative Scattering Data
- Measures scattering a function of spatial frequencies
- Superior to Haze or Gloss Numbers, which are engineering control parameters
Measures 3D scattering power spectral density
- Bidirectional Scatter Distribution Function (BSDF):
- Of reflected/transmitted light
- As function of scattering angle
Measures a 4.5 mm diameter circle
- In 16 to 28 seconds
- 10-2/sr to 10-3/sr noise
HunterLabs UltraScan Pro Spectometer
Haze Optical Properties Reflectance Spectrometer Transmittance YI
- Measures reflectance (specular included or excluded), transmittance, and haze
- 350nm – 1050nm spectral range with 5nm resolution
- Strobe measurements of full spectrum
- Excellent for quick, accurate measurement of YI and haze