Place additional components

[shorowit]

Once https://github.com/NREL/openstudio-geometry-editor/issues/17 and https://github.com/NREL/openstudio-geometry-editor/issues/210 are implemented, we can add:

• [x] Doors (both interior and exterior)
• [ ] Skylights
• [ ] PV panels/arrays
• [ ] Illuminance maps

[macumber]

We also will want illuminance maps, can wait to do those later if not of interest for res

[bgschiller]

@shorowit can you add some details when you get a chance about how each of these other components should look?

For example, daylighting controls required showing the distance to the nearest window interactively, and windows offered some options to decide placement (repeating, wwr, or single) and size. Here are my guesses:

Skylights

• Have both a width and a height. Or are they sometimes non-rectangular?
• Do these align parallel to nearest wall, or always rectilinear with grid?
• placed according to their center point, like windows. This means that if the size is adjusted the skylight grows/shrinks from center rather than from top-left corner.

PV panels/arrays

• similar to skylights? Or maybe these tile a space with a target ratio of coverage? Need some guidance here.

Illuminance maps

• Not sure what we should display on the UI here, nor what options are needed for configuring them.

[kylem038]

I'm happy to look at implementing this but look like we need some more clarity here. @DavidGoldwasser

[Mkellyeng]

PV Panels and Skylights should work differently. Skylights are essentially windows on the roof (ie laid flat on the grid, instead of being attached to an edge). PV panels can have an independent tilt.

That is, unless we want to only support flush-mounted panels for now. But I don't believe roof pitch is currently implemented(?), so the panels could only be laid flat, which would poorly represent any actual PV array.

The most important parameters for a PV panel are its Tilt, Azimuth, and Length x Width All of these parameters would likely need to be specified in the Options UI

I actually used to work in commercial solar, and all of our panels were 1.6m x 1m (64.5in x 39in), however a quick look online indicates that there is some variation in size.

I'd suggest the following:

• Place PV Panel according to its center point, as @bgschiller suggested
• When placed, draw a rectangle oriented according to the Panel's azimuth. Azimuth = 0 points the rectangle towards North (Panel is "pointed" in the direction of its length)
• In Floorspace we view the panel from above, so the size of the rectangle depends on the Length and Tilt of the panel. Set Drawn_Length = Cos(Tilt_Angle)*Panel_Length.

Placing panels one by one sounds like a pain and creates opportunity for errors (placing them too close or too far apart could cause overlap or gaps). They're almost always laid in long rows, so it would be really useful to include a "Number of panels in row" parameter as well. You could then multiply the Panel Width by the number of panels in a row. If you wanted a different number of panels in another row, you'd need to create a different "Panel Definition", akin to creating another "Window Definition" currently, when changing the width of a window. This would give Drawn_Width = Panel_Width*Numer_of_Panels

[kylem038]

@Mkellyeng thank you for the in-depth response. I'll speak with @bgschiller to see where to start on this.