The Solar Pathfinder has been the standard in the solar industry for solar site analysis for decades. Its panoramic reflection of the site instantly provides a full year of accurate solar/shade data, making it the instrument of choice.By combining the site-specific shading data of the Solar Pathfinder with the published solar radiation figures, an accurate solar site analysis can be made. This insolation data, on an hourly and monthly basis can then be applied to architectural, engineering, solar, and ecological applications.
The Solar Pathfinder requires no special skills or technical know-how. One simple tracing does the job and becomes the permanent record for the solar data. When properly cared for, the unit will give the user years of accurate site analysis.
The Solar Pathfinder uses a highly polished, transparent, convex plastic dome to give a panoramic view of the entire site. All the trees, buildings or other obstacles to the sun are plainly visible as reflections on the surface of the dome. The sunpath diagram can be seen through the transparent dome at the same time. This diagram is latitude specific [the further away from the equator, the lower the sun will be in the sky, thereby making the sunpath further from the center of the unit] and shows the sun’s average path for each month.
The rays of the diagram depict solar time. The diagram itself is therefore calibrated to give solar insolation data for all the hours of the day and all the days of the year. The diagram is also specific to the application: “South-facing” (for Northern hemisphere) or “vertical” is for applications of 20-90 degrees tilt – usually solar; “Horizontal” is for applications of 0-20 degrees tilt – usually ecological.
Solar Insolation Data, such as the NREL data, takes into account the specific climate of the city chosen. Local cloud cover, smog, dust in the atmosphere, etc. are averaged in its insolation values. Such data would be the only information needed if the site was completely free of shade-producing objects such as trees, building, etc. For specific sun/shade analysis of a given site, the Solar Pathfinder is an invaluable tool that is both fast and accurate. |