Adapt to terrain

Introduction

Adapt to terrain refers to the process of adjusting the height (and sometimes position) of moved or copied frames to correctly align them with the new ground topography and ensure they are counted toward the site capacity.
After moving or copying the frame, it needs to be either reassigned or adapted to a PV area. This can be done in three ways:

• Adapt to positions. This function maintains the original X and Y coordinates of the frames while adapting them to the terrain. This capability is beneficial in various scenarios, which will be detailed later in this article.

• Adapt by settings. This function adjusts the frames to the terrain's Z-coordinate while also modifying their X and Y coordinates. This dual modification is essential to maintain the set row alignment and spacing. The location of the Alignment line influences how the X and Y positions are ultimately adjusted.

• Reassign a frame. This function allows reassigning copied or moved frames to a specific PV area. It is used when your frames were generated without a topographic survey.

After the frame has been copied or moved, it will be colored in red and placed on the PVcase Shadow Block layer. This indicates that the frame needs to be adapted to the terrain in its new location or assigned to a PV area.

Adapt to positions

This function maintains the original X and Y coordinates of the frames while adapting them to the terrain.  

To adapt individual frames to the terrain: 

1. Click the Adapt to positions button
2. Select a specific frame when prompted
3. Press Space or Enter on your keyboard to finalize

To adapt an entire row of frames: 

1. Click on the Adapt to position button
2. When prompted, select a row of frames that you want to adapt
3. Press Space or Enter on your keyboard to finalize

To adapt the entire PV area to the terrain: 

1. Click on the Adapt to position button
2. When prompted, select a PV area boundary line
3. To finalize, press Space or Enter on your keyboard

When to use it

There are more than a few scenarios where Adapt to positions comes in handy. Here are a few examples:

Reassign frames to a new PVarea

For this method to work, the polyline that represents the boundaries of your new PVarea needs to be on the layer PVcase PV Area. You can easily:

• Split your PVarea into smaller ones:

• Merge smaller PVareas into a bigger one:

Elevate all your frames at once 

To minimize grading expenses and avoid collisions, adjust the table height in the Height & Optimization tab. Then, select the PV area boundary line to adapt the frames to the terrain.

Adapt the design to a new topography survey 

When you receive a new topography file, and you need to adapt the design to it. 

Don’t forget to reselect the newly imported terrain data in Layout generation settings and only then adapt the whole PV area to the newly selected terrain.

Adapt by settings

This function serves a dual purpose: it not only adapts the frames to the terrain but also adjusts their X and Y coordinates. This modification is essential to maintain the correct alignment and adhere to the specified row spacing settings.

To use Adapt by settings:

1. Click on the Adapt by settings button
2. Select the specific frames or areas where you want to apply the function
3. Press Space or Enter on your keyboard to finalize the selection

When to use it

The two primary applications of Adapt by settings are detailed below.

Ensure that frames are aligned

If you make manual modifications to your layout, maybe it is difficult to place the frames in the exact position where they should be. With Adapt by settings, you can align the frame to the rest of the row. 

Please keep in mind that the position of the alignment line will play a role in the way that the X and Y positions change. For example, if your left frame is snapping to the right one, instead of the other way around, you might want to move your alignment line from the right of your layout to the left.

Update column/row spacing 

Sometimes, the requirements of the project change, and you may need to modify the gap between frames (what we call Column spacing for Fixed tilt, or Row spacing for trackers). The Adapt by settings function allows you to change this parameter in existing layouts without the need to regenerate the layout entirely.