I am currently trying to ‘play’ around with the PV components of Ladybug for a strip of roof, and cannot intuitively figure out how to array a whole number of them.
For example, I want to see how much energy a 100m2 PV panel (or set of panels) can provide using just the defaulted simplified settings. I cannot however figure out how to array these or get them to be changeable.
Forgive me if I am just being blind, but where is this constant area coming from? Is there a different approach I can take to making a set of PV panels, or do I need to instead parametrically set up a bunch of surfaces to turn into PV panels instead?
@djordje is probably the best one on the forum to respond here as he is the author of those components. I think that his components are really designed to model a single representative panel and that might be why you get a consistent 29.6 m2 panel but he would know best.
This is important only if your PV modules have “mountType_ = 2” (open rack).
For “mountType_ = 0 and 1” (insulated back, close flush) you can set the “numOfRows_” to 1, or instead set the “arrayTiltAngle_” input to 0.
The reason why you get the same area for “numOfRows_ > 1”:
“PV_SWHsurfacesArea” output is calculated as: systemSize / 1kw * moduleEfficiencyFac
This is a STC formula for systemSize.
When you increase the “numOfRows_” input, the area remains the same, it is just divided into rows, therfor, the “PV_SWHsurfacesArea” output is the same.
What needs to be done, is to increase the “systemSize_” input (these are panels). This will increase the area as well.
Are you using “mountType_ = 2” and checking if the area of 100m2 is populated with rows of PV panels, then how much energy will they generate? If so, I would first set the “tiltedArrayHeight_” so that the last row is actually at the edge of the 100 m2 surface. Then I would gradually increase the “systemSize_” input to match it with the width of the surface.
Does any of this help?
