Solar Database_Viewer

visualize thermal stratification in buffer tank

Solar Database_Viewer lets you interactively explore the thermal stratification in your buffer tank
It queries the data from a SQL Database using the MATLAB Database Toolbox
( but the code can easily be changed to another data source furthermore the zip folder contains a screenshot of a data preview from the database i used to give you an insight how it has to be set up (sorry for the german column names, you'll have to look them up) i installed a sensor every 20cm (0.2 meters) , the temperature between these steps is interpolated by setting the FaceColor property to 'interp' and can be read from the colorbar alongside the axes)
- the pushbutton Run activates an animation of the whole data available at the day choosen by the user
(via the popup menu at the left top) usually from 00:00 to 24:00 in certain time steps (a short screen record is
attatched in the .zip folder)
- via the slider 'time index' you can scroll through the data in minor steps of just one single time step (see the
screen record)
- query a specified time index hh:mm at the day selected in the top left popup via the bottom left popup
menu and refreshdata by clicking the button 'index'
- the upper left 2 bar graphs visualise the flow and return temperature of the solar heater at each time index, the
3rd and 4th bar represent the flow and return temperature of the heating (they are drawn with negative sign
because they drain heat from the buffer tank)
- the single (5th) bar left to the axes states the charge rate of the buffer tank in [%] (0 % means the tank has
uniformly outside temperature wheras 100% would mean full lenght temperature of 100°C (maximum boiler
temperature))
- each sensor (column in database) is represented by its own label next to the buffer tank displaying its current
temperature making it redundant to read the colorbar (its faster - you see temperature at first sight)
- the current time index (second column of database) is displayed in the axes' title

This programm helped me a lot to understand and then optimize the interaction of my solar heater and buffer tank, i hope it can be of help to you too.
Feel free to ask questions and or contact me