A multi-lamp heliodon for architectural schools

Abstract

Heliodons have been developed to simulate sunlight direction in relation to a building model. For placing the building model, heliodons can be divided into two categories. In one category, the model is to be tilted, and normally also rotated [1,2,3]. In the other category, the model is to be placed horizontally, and normally also stationary [4,5,6]. The later category of heliodons, with a horizontally placed building model, and with the simulated sunlight moving around it, will certainly help architectural students visualise the change of sunlight direction around a building and the related effect on insolation and shading. Furthermore, in both categories, there are heliodons developed [7,8] to examine nnual nsolation/shading on massing models by putting red, green, blue lamps (i.e. dichromatic lamps) respectively at positions for June, September/ March, December, thus improving the capability of the heliodons. In the pursuit of a heliodon capable of demonstrating solar movement, offering the speed of operation as demanded by architectural schools, and occupying a space generally affordable, and primarily suitable for use to test buildings of the climatic region of South China where Hong Kong is located, a multi-lamp heliodon has been developed. This paper reports on this multi-lamp heliodon, which consists of 69 fixed quartz lamps, and 6 dichromatic lamps. It also has the capability of investigating the building model with dichromatic lamps, without the demand of additional space which is always a concern now in architectural schools.