Simple Solar Study
An indoor/outdoor daylighting
analysis plugin for SketchUp
by Brian Monwai
Synopsis
The Simple Solar Study plugin
calculates the path of the sun over a
user-defined period and reports the
amount of light incident upon a target
surface for that time period. Multiple
methods, including referencing
a weather file, can be used to
determine amount of light. Sun rays
can be blocked by solid structures or
partially transmitted through faces
on layers denoted as glass. Results
are expressed in terms of daylight
factor (ratio of calculated irradiance
compared to theoretical maximum)
or total irradiation (in watts per meter
squared).
National design handbook prototype on passive solar heating and
natural cooling of buildings, www.nzdl.org
Installation
SimpleSolarStudy.rb/.rbz is installed to the normal SketchUp plugins directory. The Simple_Solar_
Study folder contains documentation (basic html and this more complete PDF).
Usage
1. Geo-reference the model (one time)
This establishes the latitude and longitude with which to calculate the suns position. Georeferencing also identifies the north direction (generally along the green axis).
2. Group faces to be analyzed (one time)
Most often the target surface will be a set of contiguous faces that form the ground plane, but
SimpleSolarStudy does not require the faces to be contiguous. They must, however, be grouped
together. One way to create the analysis surface is to use the Sandbox tools, which automatically
create a group. It should be noted, however, that the triangular faces created by the Sandbox tools
can lead to confusing results at edge conditions. Faces can be grouped using the Edit | Make Group
menu or the context-sensitive right-click menu. If the target surface is to be tilted (advanced mode
only), the faces within the group should be tilted rather than tilting the group as a whole.
3. Select a group of faces to analyze
4. Run SimpleSolarStudy from SketchUps Plugins menu. There are two modes: basic and advanced.
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
BASIC MODE
Layer with shade structures: Select the layer that
contains faces that might cast shadows on the target
surface. Note: the number of faces exponentially
increases computation time, so some care should be
taken to isolate faces that will actually block the sun.
Time zone: This is used to calculate solar position over
the year. Time zone is relative to Greenwich Mean
Time or Universal Coordinated Time, so -5 is Eastern
Standard Time in the United States, +3 is Kenyan Time
and +9 is Japan Standard Time. Daylight savings time
is ignored.
Start month/day and End month/day: This is the time
period for analysis. Dates are inclusive, so specifying
a start date of March1 and end date of March 1 will
result in 24 hours of analysis. Default is a full year.
Year: The plugin only supports a time period that begins and ends in the same calendar year.
Calculation mode:
Coarse
The plugin will count the number of
hours of available daylight (sunrise to
sunset) and the number of hours
daylight hits each face. The daylight factor for each face is expressed as a ratio of those two
numbers. Any tilting of the target face is ignored.
Medium
Same as Coarse, but the closer the sun is to its zenith, the more heavily it is weighted. In
other words, it takes into account the fact that the sun is not as strong at sunrise or sunset.
Any tilting of the target face is ignored.
Fine
This mode uses the Bird-Hulstrum clear sky
model (1981) to calculate direct and diffuse
sunlight on the target faces. The model
takes into account such factors as scattering
of light through the atmosphere and basic
reflectivity from the ground. The intensity
of the direct light component is adjusted
for tilted target surfaces while the diffuse
light component ignores tilt angles. The max
value for the daylight factor calculation is
based on light striking a horizontal surface.
This means surfaces tilted toward the sun
could result in a daylight factor greater than
one.
TMY3
This mode uses a weather file in TMY3
(typical meterological year) format to
compare observed solar irradiation to the
Bird-Hulstrum clear sky model.
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
The weather file should approximately match the latitude/longitude of the model. More
information about the TMY3 file format is available from the U.S. National Renewable Energy
Laboratory at http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/1991-2005/tmy3/ . Weather files for
1020 locations around the United States can be downloaded from the same website.
Label results: If yes, each face is labeled with its calculated daylight factor. A top/non-perspective view of the
surface is probably the best way to read the labels.
Gradient: A color is applied to each face based on its daylight factor.
Gradient 1
0.00
1.00
Gradient 2
Gray scale
After the calculations are run, the plugin reports some basic statistics in a dialog box.
ADVANCED MODE
If run in advanced mode, Simple Solar Study
provides a few extra options.
Layer(s) with shade structures: Advanced mode
supports multiple layers. Instead of a dropdown
selector, the user enters a comma-separated list of
layer names (case-sensitive).
Layer(s) of glazing: In Advanced mode, layers
containing glass can be entered (case-sensitive).
Layers of glazing have a compounding effect, so
if you have double-pane glass in your model, you
might want to put each pane on its own layer
and only tell Simple Solar Study about one of the
layers.
Glazing transmittance: This is the visible
transmittance of the faces on the glazing
layers. A value of 0 would mean no light passes
through. The entries in the comma-separated
list correspond to the glazing layers, so in the
example at right, objects on the Glass-1 layer
are 80% transmissive while those on Glass-2
transmit 40% of light through them. According
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
to the Daylighting Guide from Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab, clear glass might have a visual
transmittance of 88% while heavily tinted glass
can be down in the 38%. If a single transmittance
number is used, it will be applied to all glazing
layers.
Trace sun path? This option draws edges between
sun positions from sunrise to sunset on the first
day of the month from January through June.
Result units: Basic mode always expresses results in terms of daylight factor. In Advanced mode, the output
can be expressed in watts per meter squared. Note: this is only meaningful if the Calculation mode is set
to Fine. This option could conceivably be used to estimate solar energy output from a set of photovoltaic
panels. Accounting for PV efficiency and actual size of the PV array is left to the user.
Save results to file? Selecting Yes will prompt you for a file name and save the daylight factor of each face to
a comma-separated file for reading in your favorite spreadsheet program.
Advanced parameters: This field provides a way to enter undocumented options (which will now be
documented). Parameter/value pairs are separated by commas, (spaces are ignored):
parameter1=value1, parameter2=value2, ....
SaveSolarCalcs=Yes
This will save the intermediate solar position calculations to a CSV file.
In Coarse and Medium calculation modes, the values saved are date,
time, declination, equation of time, hour angle, elevation (degrees from
horizontal) azimuth (degrees clockwise from north), sunstrength. In
Fine calcuation mode, sunstrength is replaced by direct beam normal
to the surface (W/m^2), direct radiation on horizontal surface (W/m^2),
diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface (W/m^2), global/total radiation
on a horizontal surface (W/m^2).
SaveIrradianceCalcs=Yes
This option only works in Fine calculation mode. Whereas
SaveSolarCalcs gives radiation values for a generic surface at moments
in time, SaveIrradianceCalcs outputs the radiation incident (or nonincident) upon each analysis face for each solar position.
LabelLayerName=<name> This parameter lets the user choose the layer name to be used (or
created) for daylight factor labels. The default layer name is Solar study
labels.
SunpathLayerName=<name> This parameter lets the user choose the layer to be used (or created)
for tracing the suns path. Default is Solar study sunpath.
Lat=<num>
Override the geo-referenced latitude. Positive latitudes are North.
Long=<num>
Overrride the geo-referenced longitude. Negative latitudes are West.
SunDist=<num>
Radius of the sun (centered on a point on the target surface). Default is
10,000.
Pressure=<num>
Barometric pressure in millibars (default 1013 is sea level)
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
Ozone=<num>
Ozone thickness of atmosphere in cm (typically 0.05 to 0.4, default is
0.35)
Water=<num>
Water vapor thickness of atmosphere in cm (typ 0.01 to 6.5, default is
4.0)
Aerosol-500=<num>
Aerosol optical depth at 500nm (typ 0.02 to 0.5, values > 0.5 represent
clouds and volcanic dust, etc., default is 0.35)
Aerosol optical depth at 380nm (typ 0.1 to 0.5, default is 0.35)
Aeorsol-380=<num>
FwdScatter=<num>
Foward scattering of incoming radiation (1.0 for all forward vectors, 0.0
for all backward scattering, default is 0.84)
Reflectance=<num>
# ground reflectance (typ 0.2 for land, 0.25 for vegetation, 0.9 for snow,
default is 0.20)
Credits
Code for the calculating the Julian day, the Julian century, and an implementation of the Bird and Hulstrum
clear sky radiation model are translated from solrad_ver16.xls with permission from Greg Pelletier,
Washington State Dept of Ecology.
Other calculations and algorithms are based on Excel formulas in BIRD_08_16_2012.xls by Daryl Myers,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, C code from solpos.c by Martin Rymes, National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, and Javascript code in the online NOAA Solar Calculator, available at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/
gmd/grad/solcalc/.
Versions of Simple Solar Study before v0.93 were based on the SketchUp plugin Sunposition, v1.2.1 by
Gabriel Miller, 2009
Publications referenced:
Meeus, Jean. Astronomical Algorithms. Richmond, Va: Willmann-Bell, 1991.
Stine, William B, and Raymond W. Harrigan. Solar Energy Fundamentals and Design: With Computer
Applications. New York: Wiley, 1985.
Bird, R E, and Roland Hulstrom. A Simplified Clear Sky Model for Direct and Diffuse Insolation on Horizontal
Surfaces. Golden, Colo: Solar Energy Research Institute, 1981.
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
Legal stuff
DISCLAIMER. None of the authors or their respective organizations are responsible for any damages, including incidental or consequential damages, arising from use or misuse of this software, or from results
achieved or conclusions drawn by others.
NO WARRANTIES. This software and any related documentation is provided as-is without warranty of any
kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the
software remains with the user.
NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. In no event shall the Washington State Department of Ecology, NREL, NOAA,
the developers of the software, or their suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without
limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any
other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this product, even if the Washington State
Department of Ecology, NREL, NOAA, the software developers or their suppliers have been advised of the
possibility of such damages.
Simple Solar Study, v0.98, 2013-08-11
