Skip to content

PV Collada file format

The PV Collada file format has been created by the PVsyst team in collaboration with the PVCase team in order to provide an open-source exchange format to describe 3D PV scenes.

PV Collada files can be imported into PVsyst since version 7.0.

Format description

PV Collada files use the .PVC extension.

The format is based on the Collada 1.5 format (full specifications available on the Khronos group website).

Extension of the \<mesh> tags

The <mesh> tags can contain an additional child element from the following ones :

  • frame_parameters
  • tracker_parameters

It must contain only one of these and not the two simultaneously.

Adding one of these tags to the mesh will define it as a PV mesh and each of its faces will be converted to such in PVsyst after the import.

<frame_parameters>

This element describes a fixed-tilt table, it must contain the following child elements :

  • module_width : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the width of a module contained in the table
  • module_height : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the height of a module contained in the table
  • module_x_spacing : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the horizontal spacing between modules contained in the table
  • module_y_spacing : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the vertical spacing between modules contained in the table
  • module_manufacturer : STRING type, describes the name of the module manufacturer
  • module_name : STRING type, describes the name of the module manufacturer

<tracker_parameters>

This element describes a tracker, it must contain the following child elements :

  • module_width : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the width of a module contained in the table
  • module_height : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the height of a module contained in the table
  • module_x_spacing : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the horizontal spacing between modules contained in the table
  • module_y_spacing : INTEGER type, millimeters, describes the vertical spacing between modules contained in the table
  • module_manufacturer : STRING type, describes the name of the module manufacturer
  • module_name : STRING type, describes the name of the module manufacturer
  • tracker_type : STRING type enumeration ("single_axis_trackers", "dual_axis_trackers"), describes the kind of trackers
  • axis_vertices : this element must contain two child elements of type with a length of 3, describing the global coordinates of the two axis points
  • min_phi : INTEGER type (between -90 and 90), degrees, describes the minimum E-W tracking rotation angle
  • max_phi : INTEGER type (between -90 and 90), degrees, describes the maximum E-W tracking rotation angle
  • min_theta : INTEGER type (between -90 and 90), degrees, describes the minimum N-S tracking rotation angle
  • max_theta : INTEGER type (between -90 and 90), degrees, describes the maximum N-S tracking rotation angle

Sample PVC files can be found in the DataRO/PVsyst8.0_Data/Userdata subfolder of the PVsyst installation folder.