This is the second in a series. This shows how the Sun Position Plugin can be used to illustrate the solar window to which a solar electric or solar thermal array will be subjected. Many thanks to Gabriel Miller for creating this plugin. I would like to expand upon this concept and develop even better tools for visualizing the effect of obstructions on a solar array. The intent is to place opposing planes to show solar noon, local noon, local sunrise and sunset, and hour markers in between. This will help demonstrate when obstructions shade a target object, including the time of year and the time of day. This is work in progress and accuracy is not guaranteed. My goal is to have this done with a plugin. The curves to illustrate the hourly planes are alluding me at the moment, but I think once I identify the sunrise and sunset times on the time of year planes, I should be able to place points on the time of year circles and then draw lines to make my time of day planes. Obviously these planes will be linear representations of a complex curve, but it is certainly close enough for what I am doing and would be extremely useful. Any astronomists out there experimenting with Sketchup pugins? Let's get this going! Modeled by Jason Szumlanski of Fafco Solar in Southwest Florida. #Solar_Noon #Solar_Window
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