Graphical user interface for controlling a solar ray mapping
OwnerJim Loveland, Leif Larson +3inventors
InventorsJim Loveland, Leif Larson, Dan Christiansen, Tad Christiansen, Daniel Gerszewski
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are described herein to model divergent beam ray paths between locations on a roof (e.g., of a structure) and modeled locations of the sun at different times of the day and different days during a week, month, year, or another time period. A graphical user interface allows for visualization of the modeled ray paths and graphical manipulation of the resolution and parameters of the modeling process.
Claims20
A non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
- rendering, for display on an electronic display of the computing device, a three-dimensional model of a structure;
- rendering, for display on the electronic display, analemmas of modeled ray paths within a model display window proximate to the three-dimensional model of the structure;
- rendering a navigation control interface in a control window proximate to the model display window of a graphical user interface;
- receiving a user input via the navigation control interface to modify a perspective of the rendered three-dimensional model of the structure within the model display window;
- and
- rendering, in response to the received user input:
- a modified perspective of the three-dimensional model of the structure, and
- a modified perspective of the analemmas relative to the three-dimensional model of the structure.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
- rendering, for display on an electronic display of the computing device, a three-dimensional model of a structure within a model display window of a graphical user interface;
- rendering, for display on the electronic display, analemmas of modeled ray paths within the model display window proximate to the three-dimensional model of the structure, wherein the analemmas comprise modeled ray paths between a location on a roof of the structure and modeled locations of a sun relative to the roof of the structure at each of a plurality of different times during a time period;
- receiving a user input requesting the display of rays between the analemmas and a location on the roof of the structure;
- and
- rendering, for display on the electronic display, rays mapped between points of each of the rendered analemmas and the location on the roof of the structure.
A system for divergent beam ray-path modeling, comprising:
- a divergent beam ray-path modeling subsystem to model a divergent beam ray path from each of a plurality of locations on a roof of a structure to a modeled location of a sun at multiple, discrete times during a time period;
- a beam path analysis subsystem to:
- identify obstructed divergent beam ray paths that are obstructed by an obstacle, and
- identify unobstructed divergent beam ray paths;
- a graphical user interface subsystem to render a heatmap of solar irradiance values as an overlay on the roof of the structure;
- and
- an irradiance calculation subsystem to calculate a solar irradiance value for each location on the roof of the structure during the time period based on the identified unobstructed divergent beam ray paths associated with each respective location during the time period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.