Libraries
ico-minus-16x16Overview

A library is a collection of stored values for some sets of input variables on Solar Advisor input pages. A library allows you to populate a set of variables by choosing an entry from the library. For example, each entry in the photovoltaic inverter library stores a set of values for the variables describing the characteristics of an inverter in the Sandia inverter database. When you choose an inverter from the library, Solar Advisor populates the inverter characteristic variables on the Inverter page with values from the library. See Accessing Libraries from Input Pages for details.

For advanced analyses, you may want to add your own entries to a library, or to modify entries in an existing library. The library editor allows you to add and manage libraries. You should only add or modify a library entry when you have a complete set of data for the entry. Because values in the entry may be interdependent in ways that are not obvious, you can easily introduce errors to simulation results by changing values in a library entry. An obvious example would be changing one of the power values for an entry in the inverter library without changing the current and voltage values. In general, you should not modify libraries unless you are familiar with both the characterization of the physical component represented by library entries, and with Solar Advisor's mathematical representation of the component.

Note. If you decide to modify or create your own libraries, you should first read about the difference between default and user libraries, and refer to the instructions for working with the library editor.
ico-minus-16x16Accessing Libraries from Input Pages

Depending on the library, Solar Advisor either displays a "Choose from library" or "Library" button, or displays the library entries as a list directly on the input page. For some components, to choose an item from a library, you click the Choose (or Library) button and then click the item's name in a list of library items. Solar Advisor automatically populates appropriate variables on the input page, which you can edit if necessary. For example, on the physical trough model's Collectors page, to choose an entry from the parabolic trough collector library, click Choose collector from library. Solar Advisor displays a list of collectors from the library. When you click a collector name in the list, Solar Advisor copies collector geometry and optical parameter values from the library to the variables on the Collectors page.

SS_Libraries-CollectorList

If you change the value of one of those variables, Solar Advisor indicates that the parameters on the input page differ from parameter values in the library by displaying "No library match" in the library name box:

SS_Libraries-NoLibraryMatch

For other libraries, such as the component-based photovoltaic model's Sandia module library, Solar Advisor displays the list of library items directly on the input page. When you choose an item from the list, Solar Advisor copies values from the library to the project's case, and displays some of them as read-only values on the Module page. If you want to use change a value, you must create a new user library.

SS_Libraries-ModulesList

Note. Solar Advisor often only displays a subset of the parameters from a library on input pages. If you want to see the complete parameter set for a library item, you can view the values in the library editor.
ico-minus-16x16Library Descriptions

Solar Advisor uses libraries to store parameter sets for the following performance model components and displays them as lists on the relevant input pages.

Table 39. Solar Advisor model libraries with name, type and the input page where you choose library entries.

Library Name (Type)

Description

Input Page

CEC Modules (CECModule)

List of photovoltaic modules from the California Energy Commission database of approved modules.

Module

CSP Empirical Trough TES Dispatch (EmpiricalTroughDispatch)

Storage dispatch schedules based on time-of-use rates of different electric utilities for the empirical trough model.

Thermal Storage

CSP Physical Trough Receiver (HCE) (PhysicalTroughHCE)

Receiver characteristics for the physical trough model.

Receivers (HCEs)

CSP Physical Trough SCAs (PhysicalTroughSCA)

Collector characteristics for the physical trough model.

Collectors (SCAs)

CSP Physical Trough TES Dispatch (PhysicalTroughDispatch)

Storage dispatch schedules based on time-of-use rates of different electric utilities for the physical trough model.

Thermal Storage

CSP Tower TES Dispatch (TowerDispatch)

Storage dispatch schedules based on time-of-use rates of different electric utilities for the power tower model.

Thermal Storage

CSP Trough HCEs (TroughHCE)

Receiver characteristic for the empirical trough model.

SCA/HCE

CSP Trough Parasitics (TroughParasitics)

Parasitic loss coefficients for different reference power cycle options of the empirical trough model.

Parasitics

CSP Trough Power Cycles (TroughPowerBlock)

Steam turbine characteristics for different reference power cycle options of the empirical trough model..

Power Block

CSP Trough SCAs (TroughSCA)

Collector characteristics for the empirical trough model.

SCA/HCE

Dish Stirling Systems (DishStirlingSystem)

Complete system descriptions for the dish-Stirling model.

System Library

Sandia Inverters (SandiaInverter)

List of inverters from the Sandia inverter database for the photovoltaic model.

Inverter

Sandia Modules (SandiaModule)

List of modules from the Sandia module database for the photovoltaic model.

Module

TOU Utility Rates (TOURateSchedule)

Retail time-of-use rates for projects with residential or commercial financing.

Utility Rate
ico-minus-16x16Default and User Libraries

Solar Advisor stores data for each library in library files. A library file is a text file with a the .samlib extension. You can find the library files in the library folder (/exelib/libraries in your Solar Advisor installation folder). Solar Advisor uses a library type definition file with the .samlibtype extension to map values from the library file to Solar Advisor input variables.

There are two types of libraries, default libraries indicated in lists by the prefix "SAM/" in lists, and user libraries indicated by the prefix "USER/":

•Default libraries are available to all project files on your computer and cannot be modified from the library editor. Solar Advisor considers any library file stored in the library folder to be a default library, and indicates default libraries in lists on input pages with the prefix "SAM/." Although you can use a text editor to modify a default library, we recommend using the library editor to create a copy of the default library for editing so that you always have a copy of the original default library that came with Solar Advisor. Note that you can add your own library to the default collection by creating a library file and putting it the libraries folder.
•User libraries are libraries stored in the project file. A user library must be added to a project file to be available in the file. User libraries are indicated in lists by the prefix "USER/." Unlike default libraries, user library parameters are stored in the project file and can increase the project file size. To make a user library available to more than one Solar Advisor project on your computer, you can either export it as a library file and then import it into other projects, or you can export to the default library folder so that it is available to all projects on your computer.
ico-minus-16x16Managing Libraries with the Library Editor

The library editor allows you to create and edit user libraries. You cannot edit default libraries from the library editor. To edit a default library, you can either create a copy of the library as a user library (the recommended approach), or you can edit the file directly using a text editor. See Default and User Libraries for details.

To open the library editor:

•On the File menu, click Libraries. You must open a project file before opening the library editor (the editor is not available from the Welcome page).

SS_Libraries-LibraryEditor

Libraries

Shows the list of default libraries with the prefix "SAM/" and any user libraries in the project with the prefix "USER/". Click a library name to display the library's contents. Each library entry is a row in the table.

New User Library

Click to add a new user library to the project. Solar Advisor stores user library data in the project file rather than in external library files.

Remove User Library

Click to remove a user library. You cannot remove a default library indicated by the "SAM/" prefix.

Add Entries

Add rows of data to a user library. You must choose a user library indicated by the "USER/" prefix before adding entries. You cannot add entries to a default library with the "SAM/" prefix.

Export

Export the current library to a library file (.samlib). Export a library when you want to use it in a different project. You must import the library into the other project for it to be available in that project. You can export a library to the default library folder (/exelib/libraries in your Solar Advisor installation folder) to make the library available to all Solar Advisor projects on your computer.

Import

Create a new user library by importing entries from a library file (.samlib). When you import a library, Solar Advisor stores the library entries in the project file, which affects the file's size.

Help

Display the Libraries help topic.

Close

Close the library editor.

To create a new user library:

1.Open the library editor.
2.Click New User Library.
3.Type a name for the library in the Import Library window. This is the name that will appear in library lists.
4.Choose a library type in the New User Library window. See the table of library types for type descriptions.

When you create a new user library, Solar Advisor adds an empty library with the name you specified and the prefix "USER/" to the list of libraries. To assign values to the entry, you must first add a copy of an existing entry, and then modify its values. This helps to ensure that no library entries have blank values.

To add entries to a new or existing user library:

1.Click the user library's name in the Libraries list. User libraries are indicated by the prefix "USER/".
2.Click Add Entries.
3.In the Copy Existing Entry window, check one or more items that have similar characteristics to the entry you want to add.
4.Click OK.
5.To rename a library entry, in the library table, right-click the entry's name, and choose Rename from the shortcut menu.
6.To add values to a library entry, you can either

change values manually by double-clicking each cell and typing a value, or

copy a row of values from a comma-separated text file or Excel worksheet file, and then right clicking the library entry's name and choosing Paste Values in the shortcut menu.

Note. The library editor does no error checking, so be sure to use valid values in your library entries.

To modify values in a default library:

1.Create a new user library of the same type as the default library (see instructions above).
2.Add the entry that contains the values you want to modify from the default library and change the value (see instructions above).

Note. You can also use a text editor to change values directly in a default library. You should only use this approach if you are very familiar with the parameters stored in the library, and are certain that you want to discard the original values stored in the library. We recommend only modifying copies of libraries. See Default and User Libraries for file location details.

To "convert" a user library to a default library:

1.Click user library's name in the Libraries list.
2.Click Export and save the file in the libraries folder (/exelib/libraries in your Solar Advisor installation folder).
3.Solar Advisor will display the library with the "SAM/" prefix, and make it available to all Solar Advisor projects on your computer.