Thermal Modeling of Solar Energy Systems

Explore solar energy fundamentals by detailing DNI, DHI, and GHI, how sun angle and clouds modulate them, and how surface orientation and ground models influence solar radiation in thermal simulations.

Explore three software tools for solar heating thermal modeling—the trend modeler, a thermal analyzer, and a network thermal analyzer—and how a translator builds a complete network thermal model.

Create two plates in the geometry builder by defining surfaces with xy z coordinates and an offset origin to orient them with z up and a gap, then verify.

Create a material and its property, and assign thickness to two-dimensional plates. Attach properties to surfaces for conduction and radiation, and use S-M materials library and coatings to set emissivity.

Mesh geometry by specifying edge sizes and using quad, iso, four-node elements. Convert the finite element model to a network model with mass lumping for conduction, radiation, and convection.

Load a Phoenix Sky Harbor EPW file for a 24-hour day, review solar flux and ambient data, and prepare the environment simulation module for analysis.

Launch and run a first-time thermal model simulation: select location and dates, configure adaptive timestep, radiation processes, and orbit-based solar flux, then post-process results for temperatures, fluxes, and sky interactions.

Access the results to view calculated temperatures at 300-second intervals. Noontime sun heats the east-facing and horizontal plates, while animation shows heating and cooling over time.

Rerun the thermal model in the background to compare white versus black paint on two plates, using saved trajectory and kinematic files to generate new radiation results.

Create a 3d solid ground for the NFG model by using the existing soil from isotropic materials, then assign it to application region 1 and apply.

Demonstrates meshing the ground model with 24 through-thickness elements and a 10 by 10 horizontal grid, using solid hex elements and corner nodes to capture depth gradient efficiently.

Create a new ESM file for the NFG model in the environmental simulation module, load EPW data for June 4 with no cloud cover, and plot DNI and G8 Chye.

Run a steady-state then seven-day transient thermal analysis of a near-field ground model to predict surface fluxes and ground temperature, with outputs every 600 seconds.

Learn to view and compare near-field and far-field ground temperatures in Patran's thermal studio, plotting steady-state and transient results from a 24-hour solar cycle and performing what-if studies.

Change the model date in the Sunderman UI, selecting a date or date range from midnight to midnight, then rerun analysis to compare direct and diffuse flux using EPW results.

Change the earth location by selecting an EPW file from the energy plus site, then compare direct normal flux and diffuse flux for a chosen date.

Explore applications of the environment simulation module for solar and aerospace systems, from avionics and external hardware to photovoltaic, solar heating, and worst-case day analyses using typical meteorological year data.

Explore the thermal modeling workflow for solar energy systems using Patran and the Send solver for analyses with radiation, convection, temperature loads, and EPW weather data for solar flux.