Photopia Optical Design Software Explained

Photopia
Latest Release Version:2015.1
Operating System:Windows
Genre:CAD Software
License:Proprietary. Copyright(c) 1996-2016, LTI Optics, LLC.

Photopia Optical Design Software (Photopia) is a commercial optical engineering ray-tracing software program for the design and analysis of non-imaging optical systems. Photopia is written and distributed by LTI Optics, LLC (formerly Lighting Technologies, Inc.) and was first released in 1996. Photopia's main market is the architectural lighting industry but it is also used in the automotive, medical, industrial, signal and consumer products industries. Photopia includes a full library of lamps including the latest high brightness LEDs as well as a library of material BSDF data.

History

Photopia's predecessor, FiELD was released by Lighting Technologies, Inc. in 1987. A major re-write of the code resulted in Photopia, released in 1996. Photopia has been in continual development since 1996, first by Lighting Technologies, Inc., then by spin off LTI Optics, LLC who has been responsible for Photopia since 2006.

Markets

Photopia is used in the architectural lighting, medical, automotive, industrial, signal and consumer products industries. It has been used to design LED luminaires.,[1] solar concentrators,[2] and UV disinfection systems[3] [4], among many others.

Daylighting Simulation

Photopia has found wide use in the daylighting simulation segment of the market. Photopia has a built in set of CIE Sky Models[5] for simulating the output of various daylighting devices, including light shelves,[6] [7] [8] glazing,[9] [10] tubular daylight devices,[11] [12] and solar concentrators[13] [14]

User Interface

Photopia works on modern versions of the Windows operating system. Photopia has a CAD system which is used for setting up simulations and viewing results. Photopia can import DXF, DWG, and STL drawing files, and can export DXF and 3DM file formats for CAD translation. Photopia has a scripting interface for running batch analysis and setting up models without the CAD interface.

Photopia for SolidWorks is an add-in that provides full ray trace simulations and output viewing inside of recent versions of SolidWorks.

Photopia for Rhino is an add-in that provides full ray trace simulations and output viewing inside of recent versions of Rhino.

Source and Material Library

Photopia has a library of source models for lamps that can be imported, as well as a library of material BSDF data that can be assigned to parts. This ensures that raytraces are accurate since the input data for lamps and materials is accurate.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Kim. YS. Choi. AS. Jeong. JW. Development of a Numerical Model for the Luminous Intensity Distribution of a Planar Prism LED Luminaire for Applying an Optimization Algorithm. LEUKOS: The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. July 2012. 9. 1. 57–72. 10.1582/LEUKOS.2012.09.01.004. 113092538 .
  2. Linhart. F. Wittkopf. SK. Munch. M. Scartezzini. JL. Roland. Jeffrey M.. Winston. Gordon. Recent research on anidolic daylighting systems: highly reflective coating materials and chronobiological properties. Proc. SPIE 7423, Nonimaging Optics: Efficient Design for Illumination and Solar Concentration VI, 74230K. 7423. 74230K. August 20, 2009. 10.1117/12.826136. Nonimaging Optics: Efficient Design for Illumination and Solar Concentration VI. 2009SPIE.7423E..0KL. 123468409.
  3. Web site: Ahmed. Y. Blatchley. ER. CFD-I Modeling of UV Disinfection Reactors with Stochastic Evaluation of System Variables. 14 October 2014.
  4. Kowalski. WJ. Bahnfelth. WP. UVGI Design Basics for Air and Surface Disinfection. HPAC Engineering. January 2000. 100–110. 14 October 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20141220214237/http://www.engr.psu.edu/iec/abe/publications/uvgi_design_basics.pdf. 20 December 2014.
  5. Web site: Alotto. FD. Linhart. F. Scartezzini. JL. CIE Standard Skies in Switzerland: Relative Occurrence and Impact on Daylighting System Performance. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Laussane. 14 October 2014. 237–242. September 2009.
  6. Tsangrassoulis. A. Machairas. V. Azarli. C. Simplified Design of a Specular Slat Profile Curve Using 2D Ray Tracing and Genetic Algorithms.. Proceedings of BS2013: 13th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association. August 2009. Chambery France. 14 October 2014.
  7. Web site: Scartezzini. JL. Linhart. F. Green Lighting: Energy-Efficiency Integrated Lighting Systems. Swiss Federal Office of Energy. 14 October 2014. Contract 151609, 101352. 107. October 2009.
  8. News: Linhart. F. Wittkopf. SK. Scartezzini. JL. Splitting up anidolic daylighting systems. 14 October 2014. SPIE Newsroom. 13 August 2009.
  9. Web site: Kostro. A. Schuler. A. Integrated Multifunctional Glazing For Dynamical Daylighting.. Swiss Federal Office of Energy. 14 October 2014. Contract 103326 / 154386. Annual Report 2009. 2009.
  10. Wittkopf. S. Grobe. LO. Geisler-Moroder. D. Compagnon. R. Kampf. J. Linhart. F. Scartezzini. JL. Ray tracing study for non-imaging daylight collectors. Solar Energy. June 2010. 84. 6. 986–996. 2010SoEn...84..986W. 10.1016/j.solener.2010.03.008.
  11. Web site: Digert. N. Fernandes. L. PAC Show and Tell: Project 2: Improved Daylighting Performance of Tubular Daylighting. PIER. 14 October 2014. Feb 2008. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080513164119/http://www.archenergy.com/lcf/documents/P2-LCF-PAC-2-21-08%20-%20Proj%202_2.pdf. 13 May 2008.
  12. Web site: New Buildings Institute. Enhanced Skylight Modeling and Validation. New Buildings Institute. 14 October 2014. Contract Number 500-08-049. March 2013.
  13. Su. Y. Pei. G. Riffat. S. Huang. H. A Novel Lens-Walled Compound Parabolic Concentrator for Photovolatic Applications. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering. March 2012. 134. 2. 7. 10.1115/1.4005757. 14 October 2014.
  14. Su. Y. Riffat. S. Pei. G. Comparative study on annual solar energy collection of a novel lens-walled compound parabolic concentrator (lens-walled CPC). Sustainable Cities and Society. October 2012. 4. 35–40. 10.1016/j.scs.2012.05.001.
  15. Web site: CREE LED Solution Providers: Optics. 14 October 2014.

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