[RE-wrenches] Shading animations

Joel Davidson joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net
Tue May 12 17:54:24 PDT 2009


William,

Very impressive! What is the height of the back of the south array? What is the distance between the back of the south array and front of the array behind it?

Joel Davidson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: William Miller 
  To: RE-wrenches 
  Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 11:57 PM
  Subject: [RE-wrenches] Shading animations


  Joel:

  My understanding is that you wish to calculate inter-row spacing for non-south facing arrays.  I modeled an example of this scenario in 3D over a time period and created a video file.  I converted the aforementioned 97 MB file to a WMV and trimmed the file size just a little (to ~436 KB).  The file can be found at:  http://millersolar.com/case_studies/case_studies.html  Click on Shading Study.

  I modeled two identical, two row installations.  One is facing due south, one is 45 degrees east of south.  The modeling date is winter solstice and the time period is from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  The location is right here in sunny San Luis Obispo County.

  If you get a chance to view the animation, you will note that the inter-row shading is not significantly different between the south facing rows and the non-south facing rows.  One might even decide that the solution for a south facing installation is an adequate solution for any installation where all other parameters are equal.  I will verify this mathematically (in my free time).

  Thanks for the question.  I love thinking about these problems.  (Tell the kids that the math is actually useful.)

  William Miller

  PS:  The animation was created in Microstation, saved as an AVI and converted to a WMV file in Pinnacle Studio.  I apologize that the resolution is not great -- I am still learning the software, even after all these years.

  Wm





  At 06:28 PM 5/11/2009, you wrote:

    Ken,
     
    Thank you. This website and software gives the sun altitude and azimuth. I seem to recall 3D graphic dynamic software where you input the site longitude and latitude, solar panel tilt angle and the north side height and the result would be a shade pattern shown for each hour. Does anyone have such a program?
     
    Best regards,
    Joel Davidson

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Engineering Services Co. 
      To: RE-wrenches 
      Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 11:14 AM
      Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Spacing between solar arrays

      Try this Joel. 

      http://www.susdesign.com/


      Ken Hulet
      Engineering Services Co.
      204 S. Main St.
      Blanchardville, WI 53516
      608.523.3726

      http://www.revolutionearth.com
      visit us at River Valley Trading Co.
      http://www.rivervalleytrading.com





      On May 11, 2009, at 11:39 AM, Joel Davidson wrote:


        Wrenches,
         
        Someone posted a website or calculation for determining the spacing between solar arrays, but I can not find it. It is easy to get the spacing from a drawing when the array faces true south, but when the array faces southeast or southwest is what we need to know. Please help. Thank you very much.
         
        Joel Davidson


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