Patent ID: 8860424

Claim:
An apparatus for highly accelerated life testing of solar cells, comprising: a chamber, a top surface of the chamber comprising a window transparent to radiation; a radiation source, wherein the radiation source is configured to project radiation through the window; a collimator configured to collimate the radiation; a light shuttering system comprising a rotatable shuttering wheel, wherein the shuttering wheel comprises one or more apertures; a light focusing system comprising a lens, a focusing actuator, and a translation stage; a light clipping system comprising a clipping plate, wherein the clipping plate comprises an aperture and a translation stage; a thermal stage disposed within the chamber for receiving a solar cell in conductive thermal contact, wherein the thermal stage comprises a heating element and a cooling element for controlling a temperature of the solar cell; and control and measurement circuitry configured to establish the temperature and radiation parameters and to measure functional characteristics of the solar cell.