RESUMEN
NOMAD is a spectrometer suite on board the ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which launched in March 2016. NOMAD consists of two infrared channels and one ultraviolet and visible channel, allowing the instrument to perform observations quasi-constantly, by taking nadir measurements at the day- and night-side, and during solar occultations. Here, in part 2 of a linked study, we describe the design, manufacturing, and testing of the ultraviolet and visible spectrometer channel called UVIS. We focus upon the optical design and working principle where two telescopes are coupled to a single grating spectrometer using a selector mechanism.
RESUMEN
NOMAD is a spectrometer suite on board ESA's ExoMars trace gas orbiter due for launch in January 2016. NOMAD consists of two infrared channels and one ultraviolet and visible channel allowing the instrument to perform observations quasi-constantly, by taking nadir measurements at dayside and nightside, and during solar occultations. In this paper, the design, manufacturing, and testing of the two infrared channels are described. We focus upon the optical working principle in these channels, where an echelle grating, used as a diffractive element, is combined with an acousto-optical tunable filter, used as a diffraction order sorter.
RESUMEN
This paper presents a new design of a planar solar concentrator with spectral splitting of light for space applications. This concentrator spectrally splits the incident light into mainly two parts. Each part is then focused onto specific spatially separated photovoltaic cells allowing for independent control of respective cells' output power. These advantages of both spectral splitting and light focusing are combined here because of a specific diffraction grating superimposed on a Fresnel lens. The theoretical principle of the optical design is presented with optimization of each element and improvement steps including optimization of grating period evolution along the lens and testing of two kinds of gratings (a blazed and a lamellar one). First numerical results are presented highlighting the possibility to design a concentrator at about 10× or more for each cell with an output power larger than that of a classical concentrator focusing on a GaAs single junction cell and less than 10% of losses for tracking errors up to ±0.8°. Some experimental results are also presented.
RESUMEN
The linear chromatic aberration (LCA) of several combinations of polycarbonates (PCs) and poly (methyl methacrylates) (PMMAs) as singlet, hybrid (refractive/diffractive) lenses and doublets operating with wavelengths between 380 and 1600 nm - corresponding to a typical zone of interest of concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) - are compared. Those comparisons show that the maximum theoretical concentration factor for singlets is limited to about 1000 × at normal incidence and that hybrid lenses and refractive doublets present a smaller LCA increasing the concentration factor up to 5000 × and 2 × 10(6) respectively. A new achromatization equation more useful than the Abbé equation is also presented. Finally we determined the ideal position of the focal point as a function of the LCA and the geometric concentration which maximizes the flux on the solar cell.
