Sensors

The Sensors tab in the Outputs workspace reports the energy recorded by objects in the scene. It is shown only after a simulation run completes with at least one sensor in the system.

It shows the output for both dedicated sensors and custom objects configured to be full-surface absorbers. Dedicated sensors report the irradiation reaching the sensor, while full-surface absorbers report the absorbed energy density — the energy actually absorbed by the object’s surfaces, which is lower than the incident irradiation because a fraction of the light is reflected.

Selecting a sensor

The Options section holds a listing of every sensor in the run. Dedicated sensors appear by their name (or identifier), and full-surface absorber custom objects appear as Custom Object N. Selecting a sensor updates the results table and the daily chart to that sensor.

Results

The Results section summarises the selected sensor.

For dedicated sensors it reports the irradiation:

QuantitySymbolUnitDescription

Irradiation, H_sensor, kWh/m², Total irradiation reaching the sensor over the full simulation period.

Average daily irradiation, H_{sensor,,daily}, kWh/m²/day, The total irradiation divided by the number of simulated days.

Days, , , The number of days covered by the simulation.

For full-surface absorbers it reports the absorbed energy density:

QuantitySymbolUnitDescription

Absorbed energy density, F_A, kWh/m², Total energy absorbed per unit surface area over the full simulation period.

Average daily absorbed energy density, F_A,,daily, kWh/m²/day, The total absorbed energy density divided by the number of simulated days.

Days, , , The number of days covered by the simulation.

The totals and daily averages can be toggled between kWh/m² and Wh/m² by clicking the unit label in the table.

These values are based on the results of ray tracing the 300-1200 nm band and then scaling the result to account for the full solar spectrum. See Broadband correction for details.

Double-sided sensors

Dedicated sensors are configured to record the front and rear faces separately. These are reported in the table as: $H_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{r},\mathrm{f}}$ and rear $H_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{r},\mathrm{r}}$, with the corresponding daily values $H_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{r},\mathrm{f},\mathrm{d}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}}$ and $H_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{r},\mathrm{r},\mathrm{d}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}}$.

Daily chart

The Graph section plots the daily value ($kWh\mathrm{/}{m}^2$) of the selected sensor against day of year as a column chart. For dedicated sensors this is the daily irradiation, and for full-surface absorbers it is the daily absorbed energy density. For double-sided sensors the front and rear contributions are shown as stacked columns.

Downloading time-step results

The per-time-step results can be downloaded using the Time series tab. To do this enable the “Sensor irradiance” checkbox under Output options.

Each sensor contributes its own columns to the downloaded file, named after the sensor:

• Dedicated sensors, which record the front and rear faces separately, produce two columns: <sensor name> Front Irradiance (W/m²) and <sensor name> Rear Irradiance (W/m²).
• Full-surface absorbers, which record a single combined value, produce one column reporting the absorbed intensity $I_A$: <sensor name> Absorbed intensity (W/m²).

There is also a button attached to the chart that will copy the displayed daily results onto the clipboard.