High flux solar simulators, used to produce controlled high temperature experiments are a valuable tool
for the research and development of high temperature material processes. As an alternative to a direct
external solar concentrator where the sun's radiation is concentrated using a parabolic dish, an indoor
solar simulator uses an array of high intensity discharge lamps attached to ellipsoidal mirrors to focus
their light at a secondary focal point where temperatures in excess of 2000 °C can be reached. To mimic,
as closely as possible, the spectrum of the sun, a novel high flux solar simulator design using metal halide
lamps has been constructed. The 42 kWe simulator consisting of seven 6 kWe metal halide lamps
delivered a peak thermal flux of approaching 1 mW/m2 to the secondary focal plane of a closely coupled
ellipsoidal reflector. A comparison of different designs and their performance is also presented in this
paper