System and method for the optimization of radiance modelling and controls in predictive daylight harvesting

Abstract

In an example, an expected sky condition is calculated for a geographic location, a time of day, and a date based on a mathematical model. A predicted distribution of direct and interreflected solar radiation within the environment is calculated based on the expected sky condition. Measurement data from one or more photosensors is obtained that provides measurements of an initial distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment, including radiation from solar and electrical lighting sources. A target distribution of direct and interreflected artificial electromagnetic radiation produced by electrical lighting is determined, based on the measurement data and the predicted distribution of direct and interreflected solar radiation, to achieve the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment. Output parameters are set to one or more devices to modify the initial distribution to achieve the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment.

1 . A method performed by a lighting modelling system of transferring element attributes of a plurality of exterior environment elements through a transition surface to their corresponding interior elements, the method comprising:
 assigning a unique identifier to each element in the virtual representation of the exterior and interior environments;   selecting a set of directions in the half-space defined by the transition surface and the exterior environment;   choosing a position on the transition surface for each direction;   tracing a ray from the position on the transition surface in the given direction to the closest exterior environment element;   assigning the exterior environment element identifier to the ray;   tracing a ray from the position on the transition surface in the opposite direction to the closest interior environment element;   assigning the exterior environment element identifier as an attribute to the interior environment element; and   indirectly determining an element attribute transferred from an exterior environment element to a corresponding interior environment element by way of the unique identifier of the exterior environment element.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of directions correspond to the pixels of a virtual camera, and the positions are randomly selected from a plurality of virtual camera positions on the transition surface. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the set of virtual camera positions are defined as the geometric centres of one or a multiplicity of transition surface patches. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the transition surface is adaptively subdivided into transition surface patches according to the proximity of exterior and interior elements to the transition surface. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the lighting modelling system includes a predictive daylight harvesting system. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein output parameters are set to one or more devices controlling admittance of solar radiation into the environment and controlling the electrical lighting to modify the initial distribution to achieve the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein setting the output parameters further includes setting the output parameters to maximize the solar radiation admitted into the environment as a component of the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation while maintaining one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range includes the effects of low-level atmospheric phenomena. 
     
     
         9 . A method performed by a lighting modelling system of geometric simplification, the method comprising:
 inserting the polygonal elements of a geometric object into a spatial subdivision data structure;   determining the intersection of the polygonal elements with the spatial subdivision data structure node edges;   calculating a canonical radiosity solution using the geometrically simplified objects; and   determining a radiosity solution for any sky luminance distribution for a specified time and date that includes the simplified object geometry using a final gather technique.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein a simplified representation of the geometric object is constructed using the marching cubes algorithm; 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the simplified representation of the geometric object is further simplified using the coplanar polygon merge algorithm; 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the lighting modelling system includes a predictive daylight harvesting system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  wherein output parameters are set to one or more devices controlling admittance of solar radiation into the environment and controlling the electrical lighting to modify the initial distribution to achieve the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein setting the output parameters further includes setting the output parameters to maximize the solar radiation admitted into the environment as a component of the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation while maintaining one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range includes the effects of low-level atmospheric phenomena. 
     
     
         16 . A method performed by a lighting modelling system of geometric simplification, the method comprising:
 calculating the vertex error quadrics for each object;   sorting the vertices of each element according to their Morton codes;   calculating the cumulative sum of the Morton codes for each object to generate a Morton integral;   constructing a k-d tree of the Morton codes and their associated vertices;   determining an adaptive cut of the k-d tree based on the vertex error quadrics as a representation of the vertices of the simplified geometric object;   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the lighting modelling system includes a predictive daylight harvesting system. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  wherein output parameters are set to one or more devices controlling admittance of solar radiation into the environment and controlling the electrical lighting to modify the initial distribution to achieve the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation within the environment. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein setting the output parameters further includes setting the output parameters to maximize the solar radiation admitted into the environment as a component of the target distribution of direct and interreflected radiation while maintaining one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the one or more additional environmental parameters within a predefined range includes the effects of low-level atmospheric phenomena.