Design of a new single-patch sky and sun simulator

Abstract

The design of a new sky simulator and its construction are described in detail. The simulator, comprising 91 tungsten halogen lamps placed in a hexagonal array, is based on the modelling of one patch of the Tregenza sky hemisphere distribution. This concept allows illuminance measurements from one geometric configuration to be used for every sky model. The sun simulator, which is also comprised of halogen lamps placed in a hexagonal array, is also described. Parallax error measurement and validation studies show that the sky presents low errors. The paper includes a review of existing skies and suns.