ODAK Laboratory Infrastructure

Located in Building A of the METU Mechanical Engineering Department, the ODAK laboratory covers approximately 120 m² across two sections: a main hall and a solar simulator room. The main hall houses a trough solar collector simulator in a ventilated enclosed area, while the solar simulator room has a high-flux solar simulator with 3 xenon short-arc lamps of 6 kW each, whose emission spectrum resembles that of sunlight.

A further 55 m² laboratory is located at the Research Park, housing a heated pressurized reactor system used to validate low- and medium-temperature thermal energy storage systems. A Hot Disk TPS 2500S device is also used to measure the specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of materials using the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method, in accordance with ISO 22007-2.

This infrastructure enables testing of concentrated solar energy systems, scaled testing of thermal energy storage systems, accelerated material aging tests, thermal shock tests, material lifecycle tests, fixed and large-scale radiation tests for porous materials, and photochemistry and photocatalysis tests. To further strengthen ODAK's research capabilities, a parabolic trough solar collector system with a 15.3 m² aperture area — enabling outdoor validation of various systems and components — is being installed on the roof of the METU Physics Department building.