Parametric Modeling Design

The Parametric Modeling Design that I used for this project involved a Family of Solar Panels that a placed on the southern roof.  Firstly, I used the default Solar Panel that comes in the Revit.  I tried to edit the Solar Panel and it seemed to work fine.  Later, I loaded this family into a new Generic Model Family to create an array of Solar Panels.  I had several issues like:  giving the tilt to the Solar Panel, placing the Solar Panel to a plane, give the tilt to the plane and the list can go over and over again.  By the end, I did not use this panel.

Therefore, Dr. Wei Yan suggested me to create a new Solar Panel from scratch.  I created it with a new Generic Model Family.  I gave the Height and the PVAngle parameters in this family.  Also, I copied the materials from the original Solar Panel to this new one.  I loaded this family to a Generic Wall Based family and created the array following a new parameter:  Roof Width.  The final parameter was the Number of PVs and the formula that I used was:  Roof Width / 6' = 16 PVs.  For the final requirements of point number 4:  Visualization, Rendering and Screenshots, I changed the Roof Width, the Height, the distance between Solar Panels and the PVAngle parameters.

 

 The PVAngle parameter involved trigonometric calculations.  The office building is located in Houston, TX. Houston is located at 30 degrees North.  If we want to calculate the solar angles for Houston for the different seasons, we need to use the next method:  the zenit is considered to be at 90 degrees, subtract the 30 degrees and the result (60 degrees from the horizontal plane) is the Spring / Fall angle.  Then, we have to add 23.5 degrees to 60 to get the Summer (83.5 degrees from the horizontal plane) angle and subtract  23.5 to 60 to get the Winter (36.5 degrees from the horizontal plane) angle.  The only problem was to get the Summer angle.  A hint was that the roof already has a tilt:  17.79 degrees.  Therefore, I had to raise the PV (Height = 2' 0") from the roof in order to give the tilt to the panel and be perpendicular to the Summer angle (83.5 degrees) (see Screenshot 4 and 5).  I did not have problems with the Spring / Fall and Winter angles.

Therefore, these are the PVAngles for Summer (191.29 degrees), Spring / Fall (167.79 degrees) and Winter (144.29 degrees).  Finally, I changed the number of Solar Panels on the roof (see Screenshots 1, 2, 5 and 6) with the Roof Width parameter.

Screenshot1 (Spring Equinox 12 pm) (I used the RoofWidth and the PVAngle parameters)

Screenshot2 (Spring Equinox 12pm) (I used the RoofWidth parameter)

Screenshot3 (Summer Solstice 12 pm) (I used the Height and the PVAngle parameters)

Screenshot4 (Summer Solstice 3pm) (I used the Height and the PVAngle parameters.  I want to check about the shadow projection from the upper overhang to the PVs)

Screenshot5 (Summer Solstice 12 pm) (I used the Height and the RoofWidth parameters, and edited the boundary of the roof)

Screenshot6 (Winter Solstice 12 pm) (I used the RoofWidth and the PVAngle parameters, and edited the boundary of the roof)