This Chart provides information on the solar load, or heat gain per unit floor area (BTU/ ft2 F hr or W/m2). You can navigate between Façade and Surface quantities along with a month by month breakdown. To easily recognize the heat gain ranges, bars will appear red when overheating occurs, blue when underheating occurs, and green when an optimum range is reached.
If you click on one Surface, the Charts will show monthly results for that surface.
Peak Loads / Average Loads
There is also an option to display Peak Solar Loads. Click on the icon shown to switch to Peak Values for each Facade or Surface. You may use the Charts to navigate areas on the model as usual.
The graph icon with a line halfway indicates Average Results. The graph icon with a line at the top of the curve indicates Peak Results. The button will toggle between the display types.
3D Charts
FenestraPro Version 6.1 includes 3D Charts display only if Shading has been included in the Building Manager (Calculate Shading Factors). These Charts are available for both Solar Loads and Daylighting. You may return to the Building Manager to recalculate results including Shading Effects.
A graphical view of the project will display with color coded Surfaces and values indicating Heat Gains.
Surfaces in red will indicate areas of high values (over 8 BTU/ft sq hr) or (over 25 W/m sq) .
Surfaces colored blue indicate cool areas (below 4.75 BTU/ft sq hr) or (below 15 W/m sq).
Surfaces in green indicate values lie within an optimum range ( 4.75 – 8 BTU/ft sq hr) or (15 – 25 W/m sq).
You may make selections on this viewer to drill deeper into a Surface. When the Bar Charts display, click on the 3D Box icon to display the 3D Charts. The button will toggle between the Bar Charts (Standard) and the 3D Charts.
The Charts window may be resized by dragging the lower right corner to create a larger or smaller window. Selections may be made from the model viewer by clicking on a Surface. This will then highlight on the model and become selected in the Facade List. A selected Surface will change color in the model viewer to indicate that it has been selected.
