ClassleSoft
Solar Off-grid System Designer v1.0
Help Manual
Tool Version: v 1.0
Document Version: v 1.0
Author: Venkatesh Pampana
venkat@[Link]
25th May 2017
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Getting Started and Important Icons ................................................................................................. 2
Design Off-grid Project ...................................................................................................................... 3
1. Home Page ................................................................................................................................ 3
2. Load Profile Page ....................................................................................................................... 3
3. System Losses ............................................................................................................................ 4
4. Location ..................................................................................................................................... 5
5. Module Selection ....................................................................................................................... 6
6. Inverter Selection ...................................................................................................................... 7
7. Battery Selection ....................................................................................................................... 8
8. Results ....................................................................................................................................... 9
9. Report ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Tool Settings.................................................................................................................................... 10
1. General Settings ...................................................................................................................... 10
2. Adding/Editing Solar Modules .................................................................................................. 10
3. Adding/Updating Inverters....................................................................................................... 12
Notice:
While ClassleSoft believes this Documentation to be accurate and reliable, ClassleSoft assumes no
responsibility for its use. ClassleSoft makes no guarantee that the Documentation is complete or error-
free. The Documentation is provided "AS-IS" and ClassleSoft disclaims all warranties in respect thereof.
ClassleSoft reserves the right to make changes to the Documentation at any time and without notice.
You may refer to the ClassleSoft web site for the most updated version.
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Introduction
Solar Off-grid System Designer is a tool for individuals, residential and small-scale commercial solar
PV installers to dimension their Solar off grid photovoltaic projects.
Getting Started and Important Icons
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1. Navigation Bar: The flow of various sections is presented here.
2. Read Help Manual: Click this icon to read the help manual of the tool.
3. Watch How To Videos: Click this icon to watch video tutorials on how to use this tool and design
projects.
4. Contact Us: Click this icon to know more about the developers behind the tool and to contact them.
5. Settings: Click this icon to access tool settings, load datasheet parameters of solar modules and
inverters in to tool database.
6. Continue or Back buttons: Use these buttons to navigate between the sections of the tool.
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Design Off-grid Project
1. Home Page
Enter general project parameters like Date, Project Name, Customer Name, Customer Contact Details
and Additional Details. Then click “Continue>>” button to goto next section.
2. Load Profile Page
Enter list of electrical appliances this page. Currently, the tool supports couple of methods.
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Method 1: Use this method to enter Load profile of electrical appliances in list format.
Room/Segment: Various room segments like Living room, Kitchen, Washroom etc.
Equipment: Title of electrical appliance
Type: Type of Equipment (Current version supports only AC appliances)
Rated Power: Rated Power of appliance
Quantity: Quantity of appliance
Operating Hours: Night and Day operating hours of usage per day
It is assumed that daily load profile remains constant throughout the year and doesn’t vary with
seasons or time of year. However, it is planned to implement detailed load profile which includes
seasonal aspects, in next version of the tool.
Method 2: This is simplest method where you already know the daily energy consumption of building.
Enter final value of daily-required electrical energy in kWh and click save button.
3. System Losses
Click on “Change Loss Parameters” button in Load Profile page to configure the values of loss
components. For a typical offgrid system, the total loss factor would be in the rage of 0.3 to 0.65
depending on chosen Solar Modules, Inverter, battery size, temperature and other parameters. Please
note that default values are just for reference. Loss components tremendously vary with installation
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location, climatic conditions and numerous other factors. Click on “continue” button after completed
configuring load profile and system losses.
4. Location
Enter the radiation data at desired location in this page. The tool currently supports couple of
Methods.
Radiation Database (NASA):
The NASA SSE radiation data of entire globe is preloaded in the tool. Enter the name of location, GPS
coordinates of location (visit this link to find GPS coordinates of any location of the globe:
[Link] ) to retrieve radiation data at desired tilt and orientation. However, the
current version of tool only supports retrieving solar irradiation for modules tilted to latitude of
location and oriented towards equator. The upcoming version of tool supports calculation and
retrieval of irradiation for any tilt angle and orientations.
Enter GPS coordinates and click on “Load Data” button to retrieve computed monthly averaged daily
solar irradiation from tool database. Once the irradiation data is retrieved, select the month for which
sizing has to be done. Depending on location and type of application, select any of the three available
options. Usually sizing is done for month with poor irradiation reception. Please note that "Name of
location" field is a static field. The tool does not have ability to retrive gps coordinates based on name
of location field.
Custom Data:
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If above method does not meet your requirement, select this custom method. KWh/kWp values for
several locations are available online in the form of solar resource maps. This method is meant for
advanced users.
5. Module Selection
Up on selecting Module from Database, the tool will suggest required modules for selected module
based on required daily electrical energy needed and available solar irradiation at location. The tool
assumes that space required for modules is not a constraint, by default. Select “By Available
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Installation Area” option present in Method block to add space constraint. Click “continue>>” to
navigate to Inverter selection.
Current version of tool does not supports favouriting certain modules and search module database
based on a criteria. These features will be implemented in upcoming version.
6. Inverter Selection
Select an inverter for chosen solar modules by clicking “Select form Inverter Database”. Based on
internal calculations, the tool will suggest whether chosen inverter is compatible or not. If chosen
inverter is incompatible, please check “Calculated Values” section to identify exact reason for
incompatibility. Check if the module number is in minimum and maximum module number, maximum
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current is less than maximum allowed current for the inverter. Please note that, current version of
tool is designed only for Hybrid Inverters.
7. Battery Selection
Four sizing options are available for battery sizing. Choose the one best suits your needs. Enter desired
Depth of discharge (0 - 1 where ‘1’ represents 100%, ‘0’ represents 0%) and Anatomy days. Enter
capacity and voltage of battery cells and click “Calculate Battery Configuration”. The tool will suggest
required number of cells and their arrangement. Chosen battery cells are good choice as long as the
pointer of “Optimization Meter” is in green.
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8. Results
System summary is displayed in Results screen. Continue to Report screen to generate final report.
9. Report
Export report as PDF the generated report by clicking “Save Report” button.
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Tool Settings
1. General Settings
Choose logo to be displayed in report by clicking “Select Image”. The website link entered in this tab
will appear as QR code in report.
2. Adding/Editing Solar Modules
Use this form to load desired Solar Modules with datasheet parameters to tool database. Fields
highlighted in red colour are mandatory.
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Deleting Module: Click on “View Module Database” button, select the module from the list and click
on “Delete Selected” to Delete Module from list
Updating Module: Click on “View Module Database” button, select the module from the list and click
on “Edit Selected” to Update Module Datasheet info.
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3. Adding/Updating Inverters
Use this form to load desired Inverters with datasheet parameters to tool database. Fields
highlighted in red colour are mandatory.
