Systems and methods to propose a project

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for sunlight obstruction modelling for a site, structure, or other object or surface of interest. The sunlight obstruction modeling can be utilized in designing and/or generating proposals for solar installation projects. The sunlight obstruction modeling can be determined based on identifying installation surface faces, installation surface face insolation, obstructions affecting insolation (or similar property), obstacles and penetrations affecting placement of installation equipment, etc., and for providing an educational experience for a potential purchaser of the system comprising general information and at least one structure-specific installation proposal. A selected plan can be implemented from within a proposal platform of the disclosed systems and methods.

1 . A system to model obstructions to sunlight, comprising:
 a network interface to couple to one or more client computing devices over a communication network;   memory to store one or more of point cloud data and computer-readable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the system to perform operations; and   one or more processors to execute the computer-readable instructions to cause the system to perform operations to:
 access point cloud data for a site; 
 identify one or more surfaces of interest at the site from the point could data; 
 model the point cloud data to generate a site representation of the site that includes the one or more surfaces of interest and one or more objects at the site that are around the one or more surfaces of interest; 
 simulate a path of the sun with respect to the site representation to identify areas of the one or more surfaces of interest that are shaded from the sun; 
 mask surface of interest points of the point cloud; and 
 determine a shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein simulating the path of the sun with respect to the site representation comprises:
 obtaining sun positions for a plurality of points in time that is representative of phases throughout the year given a geolocation of the site;   filtering the sun positions to daytime sun positions;   filtering further to sun positions for multiple days of a year; and   representing the sun positions for each of the multiple days of the year to simulate shade on the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest comprises:
 casting a ray between the sun positions and each surface of interest point in the point cloud checking for any intersections with the site representation;   recording, for each given surface of interest point, intersections with the site representation of the ray cast from a given sun position to the given surface of interest point;   applying an insolation value to the surface of interest points without intersections; and   summing insolation values for each given point and dividing by a total possible irradiance for the given point producing a percentage of total irradiance at the given point.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further to execute the computer-readable instructions to cause the system to perform operations to identify the objects at the site that are obstructions, based on the shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more surfaces of interest at the site from the point could data comprises modeling the point cloud data to generate a three dimensional model of an object of interest that includes the one or more surfaces of interest. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more surfaces pertain to an object of interest at the site and the object of interest is a structure at the site. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more surfaces are roof surfaces of a structure at the site. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the site is a location of a potential solar electrical generation system. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further to execute the computer-readable instructions to cause the system to perform operations to generate a visual representation of the object of interest and the obstructions that indicates the shade metric of each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the visual representation is a digital interactive proposal. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method to model obstructions to sunlight, comprising:
 obtaining point cloud data for a site;   identifying one or more surfaces of interest at the site from the point cloud data;   generating a three dimensional model of the one or more surfaces of interest, based on the point cloud data;   modeling the point cloud data to generate a site representation of the site that includes the one or more surfaces of interest and one or more objects at the site that are adjacent the one or more surfaces of interest;   simulating a path of the sun with respect to the site representation to identify areas of the one or more surfaces of interest that are shaded from the sun;   masking surface of interest points of the point cloud; and   determining a shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein simulating the path of the sun with respect to the site representation comprises:
 obtaining sun positions for a plurality of points in time that is representative of phases throughout the year given a geolocation of the site;   filtering the sun positions to daytime sun positions;   filtering further to sun positions for multiple days of a year; and   representing the sun positions for each of the multiple days of the year to simulate shade on the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining a shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest comprises:
 casting a ray between the sun positions and each surface of interest point in the point cloud checking for any intersections with the site representation;   recording, for each given surface of interest point, intersections with the site representation of the ray cast from a given sun position to the given surface of interest point;   applying an insolation value to the surface of interest points without intersections; and   summing insolation values for each given point and dividing by a total possible irradiance for the given point producing a percentage of total irradiance at the given point.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 identifying the objects at the site that are obstructions, based on the shade metric at each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein identifying the one or more surfaces of interest at the site from the point could data comprises:
 modeling the point cloud data to generate a three dimensional model of an object of interest that includes the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more surfaces pertain to an object of interest at the site and the object of interest is a structure at the site. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more surfaces are roof surfaces of a structure at the site. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the site is a location of a potential solar electrical generation system. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 generating a visual representation of the object of interest and the obstructions that indicates the shade metric of each point of each of the one or more surfaces of interest.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the visual representation is a digital interactive proposal.