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SHADOW FEATURES
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The Elite Software SHADOW DOS based program calculates
shaded glass areas and solar loads for any window and shading device
configuration conceivable. SHADOW is a very graphically oriented program as many
high resolution plots are always available on screen allowing you to review the
input and output data. SHADOW is ideal for evaluating the effect of using
standard shading devices like overhangs, fins, louvers, and awnings. Besides
standard devices, SHADOW can also evaluate highly irregular shaped devices like
a tree or adjacent building for example. SHADOW not only calculates the amount
of shaded glass at any hour, but it also calculates the solar heat gain at each
hour with and with out shading so that energy savings can be calculated from
using the shading devices. This feature allows the designer to decide whether
the energy savings from the extra glass shading are worth the cost of shading
devices.
PROGRAM OUTPUTThe SHADOW Program provides five basic types of reports that can be printed either to the screen or the printer. The first report lists client data, file information, and general project data. The second report is a glass input data report that reflects all input data entered for each glass section. The third report is a shading device input data report that reflects all data specified for each shading device. The fourth report is a detailed shading report that gives a plot of the shading pattern on the glass at a specific hour along with all other information concerning shaded and unshaded areas, angles, and solar loads. The final report is a shading analysis summary report that includes the same information as a detailed report except summarized over a specified time period. The many high resolution plots displayed on screen can be printed or written to disk in an AutoCad drawing file. CALCULATION METHODSHADOW uses both simple trigonometry and complex finite analysis techniques to calculate shaded glass areas. For any given glass scenario SHADOW first grids the window into thousands of tiny rectangles. Next, each shading device is gridded into similarly small rectangles, but additionally the coordinates to the center point of each rectangle are also computed. SHADOW then projects lines with the same angles as the sun from each point on every shading device towards the window. If a projected line is found to intersect the window, then the tiny rectangle where the intersection occurs is said to be shaded. SHADOW continues this process until lines from all points on all shading devices have been projected. If a projected line intersects a rectangle that is already shaded, SHADOW detects this and therefore does not compute additional erroneous shaded areas. PROGRAM INPUTThe SHADOW Program uses full screen editing features that provide a simple fill in the blank input procedure. All input data is checked at the time of entry so that no improper data can be entered. Four types of data are requested: general project data, glass material data, glass shape and position data, and shading device data. The general project data includes the project name and number, the project location with degrees latitude and longitude, ground reflectance, client information, and any general remarks. The glass material data includes specific information on the glass type, U-Factor, shading coefficient, and number of panes. The glass shape and position data includes the physical dimensions of each glass section (which can be any shape desired including rectangles, circles, arches, and ellipses), the direction the glass faces, and the time span desired for the shading analysis. The shading device input data not only allows you to define standard overhangs, fins, louvers, and awnings, but also devices of any conceivable shape and size. In fact, an adjacent building or even a tree can be defined as a shading device. Each glass section can have up to 10 different shading devices defined for it. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Elite's DOS software application SHADOW is compatible with all Windows Operating
Systems.(Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP) The minimum hardware requirements to run our application are the same as the minimum hardware requirements to run the operating system which the application is installed
on click here for details. Additionally, 1 MB of hard disk space is required to install and run
SHADOW. |