COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

URDANETA CITY CAMPUS

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
A.Y. 2021 – 2022
FIRST SEMESTER

TD21
TROPICAL DESIGN
H E L I O D O N

DG NO: MT-03
DG

DATE DUE: DEC. 11, 2021

SEAT NO. 39

POSADAS, MICHAEL DC.

20-UR-2059 / ARCHI 2-C

AR. ALDWIN M. CASTILLO

INSTRUCTOR
 Introduction

Heliodon

A heliodon (HEE-Leo-don) is a device for adjusting the angle between a flat surface and a beam

of light to match the angle between a horizontal plane at a specific latitude and the solar beam.

Heliodons are used primarily by architects and students of architecture. By placing a model

building on the heliodon’s flat surface and making adjustments to the light/surface angle, the

investigator can see how the building would look in the three-dimensional solar beam at various

dates and times of day.

The Heliodon is a device with enormous potential for daylighting design and research. However,

very little is known about it, which often generates doubts and concerns in people who discover

it.

Knowing about this device is very useful for making designs of objects or places when it is

necessary to understand aspects such as the flow of sunlight or the generation of shadows in

these designs and thus be able to make adjustments or corrections prior to full-scale construction.

It is also important to know which model is suitable for didactic activities and which is ideal for

professional activities.

Heliodons are devices that are used to simulate the sun and shadow patterns that occur at

different times, latitudes and hours of the day on the earth’s surface. Scale models of objects or

environments should experience the same sun and shadow patterns as their full-scale

counterparts.
A heliodon is a device used to simulate the angles at which the sun’s rays can strike the physical

model of a landscape or building. Heliodons must have one or more light sources that are

attached to a mechanism to support the model, which rotates along one to three axes.

Picture 1:

Heliodon of Analemas
 Picture 2: Heliodon the Story Behind the Design - PLAITLY

The angles of the sun are determined by three variables such as time of day, latitude and time of

year, so a heliodon must be able to adjust to these three factors for optimum performance.

Heliodons generally simulate the sun’s rays by making use of a combination of movement of the

light source with a rotation of the model or structure.

Picture 3: Three windows of Heliodon diagram

Zenith - the zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary

celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction. is the strongest or most successful

period of time.

Nadir - the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically

downward from the observer.

Currently, there are different types of heliodons, most of which use a light source to simulate the

sun. When the light source is fixed, such as a lamp that is fixed to the ceiling, the model or

structure must be able to be rotated to take into account the three different axes.

Picture 4: Heliodon

Fixed Light Source

There are a few heliodon models where the daily experience is simulated by the model being

fixed in a horizontal position, and the light is distributed along three axes in order to adjust to the

three variables.

Picture 5: Three light axis Picture 6: Three light distributed

These types of heliodons have the advantage that they make it much easier to understand the

solar motion and the resulting angles of the sun’s rays, making it easier to understand the solar

geometry and the possible impact of sunlight on buildings and cities.

Heliodons are mainly used by engineers, architects and architecture students to make analyses or

studies of how a building or structure might look in a three-dimensional sunbeam at different

dates, latitudes and times of the day.

Picture 7: Heliodon used in construction

Types of Heliodon

Nowadays, there are several types of heliodons, which vary according to the purpose of use and

the way they are used. Although there are different types, they all have the same purpose, to
determine the sunlight patterns at different times and places. The two formats in which heliodons

can be found today are detailed below:

Virtual Heliodon

This type of heliodon is obtained and executed by means of programs or software that digitally

simulate the angles and patterns of sunlight on objects or places that are pre-designed to evaluate

the behavior of natural light in a virtual way.

Nowadays, few architects would construct a model building and put it under a heliodon.

Computer software can do a far better job in simulating the physical situations than electric light

of a mechanical heliodon. A number of companies have developed virtual heliodons for

daylighting design. Some of these are part of integrated CAD systems such as Autodesk's

Ecotect, which are quite pricy. Now, there is a free version we just developed, which is equally

good. Even better, it runs on the Web as a Java applet. And it comes with a design studio for you

to create your own buildings. Imagine designing your houses online and use the virtual heliodon

to check how the

sun shines on them

at different days and

times at different

locations.
 Picture 8: Virtual Heliodon using computer software

Picture 9: Virtual Heliodon simulation and computation energy 3D

Physical-annular Heliodon
This is the physical model that most closely simulates our experience on Earth. The trajectory of

the sun’s movement is simulated by the use of MR lamps that are placed in circular tubes.

Picture 10:

Emulator Heliodon

These would be the two types of heliodon, depending on how they are used, that are currently

available for simulating sunlight trajectories. However, they could also be categorized into two

additional types that can be defined according to use and purpose. The two additional types

would be:

1. Didactic Heliodon: This is when heliodons are used for didactic purposes for

teaching because of the simplicity with which they allow students to easily

understand the possible movements of the sun and the ease of carrying out tests

during the different stages of a project. These devices are generally used and

controlled manually for best results.

 Picture 11: Didactic Heliodon for educational purposes

2. Professional Heliodon: Professional equipment is generally used for commercial

purposes. These have motorized movements that are controlled from a computer

where they can indicate latitude, year, month, day and time with the intention of

taking the mobile lamp to the position in which the sun would be found according

to the time of the year chosen for the geographical location selected to carry out

the study. This allows them to verify in the models the times and places where

shadows and sunlight are produced considering several factors such as design,

orientation and the respective displacements caused by the incidence of sunlight,

with the aim of achieving notable solutions in energy savings, higher rates of

habitability and better comfort in buildings.

 Picture 12: Professionals using Heliodon for commercial purposes

Picture 13: Heliodon used for

environmental conditions
Classic Physical Heliodon VS Heliodon by Computer Simulation

There are several software products that allow simulations similar to those that can be obtained

with a physical Heliodon. With regard to the veracity of the results, it can be considered that the

digital information generated by a virtual heliodon in a computer simulation is much more

accurate and processable than the results obtained with analogue models.

On the other hand, computer simulation is generally much more complex to use for end-users

and has some limitations that are inherited by programmers when developing them.

Digital models lack the didactic potential that classical Heliodons have, which allow us to

visually see how the sun behaves in a given scenario. Analogue equipment also has greater

versatility and flexibility in that it can be modified manually without having to rely on software

to do so.

Why use Heliodon?

Energy consumption is the main cause of climate change today, and buildings use around 50% of

all energy consumed within the USA, UK, Mexico and Spain. This means that buildings are the

main cause of climate change by using electrical energy for heating, cooling and lighting

systems, which are greatly affected by the sun.

Solar responsive design using heliodons can significantly reduce electrical energy demand by

harnessing the sun during the winter for heating, by rejecting the sun during the summer to
reduce the cooling load, and by harvesting small amounts of light throughout the year to replace

much of the electric lighting that is used during the day.

Successful solar responsive designs require a thorough understanding of solar geometry and the

impact it can have on the design of objects or places. Heliodons can teach developers, builders

and architects the basics of designing buildings and communities with low energy consumption

levels combined with solar energy or natural light.

Heliodons also have the ability to convince potential homeowners to apply for a solar-sensitive

design and then verify the efficiency of that particular design. The heliodon is a powerful tool to

demonstrate the great potential and logic of solar-sensitive designs with people of any age or

educational level.

There is a movie that I think they used the concept or the idea of Heliodon to achieve the

lightings of the movie. The title is “1917 “this movie is great because of the story but not only

the story, this movie is great because of shots and scenes and the process how they achieve and

give details to the movie. https://youtu.be/E3Glc9i-zVk this is the short behind the scene of the

movie 1917 that use the idea of Heliodon.

Gallery

Picture 14:

Three windows demonstration of Heliodon

 Picture 15: Perspective drawing of the UL FGG
heliodon with main dimensions given in mm

Picture 16: Example of shadows acquired by heliodon

and by computer simulations for winter solstice (left)
and equinox (right) at 1:200 (top) and 1:400 (bottom)
model scale.
References:

Heliodon - Wikipedia

(1) Heliodon: The Story Behind the Design – PLAITLY

The three windows of the Heliodon display  | Download Scientific Diagram (researchgate.net)

All about the Heliodon: definition, types and uses ✔️2021. (lightingpedia.online)

https://youtu.be/FXz6u6i8F14

Perspective drawing of the UL FGG heliodon with main dimensions given... | Download Scientific

Diagram (researchgate.net)

A virtual heliodon from Energy3D – Concord Consortium

Engineering Computation Laboratory: Energy3D Version 2.0 released

(molecularworkbench.blogspot.com)