I third the use of Sketchup. I use it every day from design, to presentation, to permitting, to construction documents.
Below are links to a few images of a recent 3D model I did. The goal here was to have a 10 degree tilt angle and have no shade on the next row on December 21 at 9:00am. Turns out I need 1' 9" spacing to do that in Naples, FL. http://www.solarsouthwestflorida.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-16_17-46-16.jpg http://www.solarsouthwestflorida.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-16_17-43-22.jpg http://www.solarsouthwestflorida.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-16_17-53-19.jpg The same concepts can be applied to a sloping surface. In fact, if you have a survey, you can trace the contour lines (or get them in CAD preferably) and create a pretty precise sloping terrain. I know Chris already offered to help, but I'd like to take a stab at it, too, to see how close our answers are. Jason Szumlanski Fafco Solar On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 5:11 PM, Mac Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > I second Chris's suggestion of Sketchup. Its very easy to use and does a > great job modeling stuff like this. There is a free version from Google > that is more than adequate for this. > > Good luck. > > > On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 3:08 PM, Chris Mason <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> I use Sketchup for these calculations now. It will do real shadows at any >> time of any day you want. >> If you are not familiar with it, send me the exact Google Earth >> coordinates and I will mock something up for you. >> >> >> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 5:35 PM, Bob Clark <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Wrenches: >>> >>> I have a customer who wants 40 solar modules on ground mounts (not >>> poles) in an area that slopes to the ESE at 7 degrees. Putting these >>> modules on one ground mount assembly so that the modules are in a 0 degree >>> slope East to West would leave the east end about 20 feet in the air. Not >>> acceptable as the customer wants a profile as low as possible for aesthetic >>> reasons plus the wind can be quite strong on occasion. >>> >>> So, I am trying to figure out how far apart 5, 8 module sub-arrays >>> (landscape orientation 2 E-W by 4 N-S tilted at 35 degrees S from the >>> horizontal) would have to be North to South and East to West so that they >>> are low profile yet do not shade each other on the winter solstice at 48.5 >>> degrees N latitude. These calculations are complicated by the ground >>> sloping to the ESE at 7 degrees. >>> >>> Can anyone point to an online calculator that takes into account the >>> slope of the ground? Or can anyone help me with the geometry of this >>> situation. I have gone around in circles and thoroughly confused myself. >>> >>> Thanks in advance. >>> >>> Bob Clark >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >> >> -- >> Chris Mason >> President, Comet Systems Ltd >> www.cometenergysystems.com >> Cell: 264.235.5670 >> Skype: netconcepts >> > > > > > Mac Lewis > > >
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