Features / Design Review
Prove the design builds before anyone mobilizes
Most layout problems are discovered by the pile rig, at field rates. PVX.AI moves that discovery into AutoCAD: Collision Analysis scans every rack against the terrain it stands on and fixes what it can in one click, Design Health Check scores the drawing 0 to 100 before it ships, and Lightning Protection verifies rolling-sphere coverage to IEC 62305-3. Findings arrive as fixes and filed reports, not as change orders.
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What does collision analysis check on a solar layout?
Collision Analysis scans every rack in a PV area against the terrain it actually stands on and judges each one by its own rack spec: pile reveals against the spec’s reveal band, ground clearance measured along the structure’s underside so a hill or a ditch between two piles is caught, and slope limits per direction. Multi-row tracker groups linked by drive shafts are judged as one unit, because in the field they build as one unit.
The verdicts come from a cloud solver that works from measured pile heads on the real surface, not from a flat-plane assumption. Findings are ranked by how far past a limit each rack is, so the worst problem is the first row in the list. Select a finding to zoom to that rack; double-click to jump into the drawing.
The drawing itself tells you where you stand. A persistent overlay marks violating racks with compact badges and a dated legend, so you always know which scan you are looking at. Move a rack, erase one, paste, or undo, and the overlay dismisses itself rather than showing a verdict for a surface that no longer exists.
- Per-rack checks: pile reveal band, ground clearance along the underside, directional slope limits.
- Each rack is judged against its own spec, so mixed fleets get mixed limits, not one blanket rule.
- The limits pane holds the reveal bands, the clearance floor, the maximum shift, and the earthwork cap per pile.
One click fixes the fixable
A scan that only produces a punch list still leaves the fixing to you. Collision Analysis classifies every violating rack by its cheapest remedy and then applies it. Racks that a vertical shift can save get a one-click fix: a rigid lift, no ground moved. A whole multi-row group receives one shared shift so its drive line stays true.
Racks a shift cannot save go to the full design pass. It lifts each rack rigidly where that reaches the band and the clearance floor, and grades only under the piles and edges that still miss. Racks with findings the design cannot act on are held, not silently modified. The result reads back in plain numbers: how many racks lifted, how many graded, and the cut and fill volumes the fix costs.
When your reveal band and clearance floor contradict each other, the panel explains the conflict with the exact numbers and offers one-click remedies with the consequence of each stated, so the resolution is an engineering decision instead of a guess. The heaviest cases hand off to targeted terrain adaptation: the selected racks get their ground corrected while the rest of the PV area is held as constraints.
Reports the structural reviewer can file
Every scan exports two deliverables. The pile schedule is a CSV with one row per pile and its verdict, ready for the structural reviewer or the pile supplier. The run report documents what the scan measured, the limits it was judged against, and the outcomes, so the review is reproducible instead of anecdotal.
The point of both documents is the meeting they replace. Instead of debating whether the north slope rows will hold reveal, the reviewer reads the band, the measured value, and the fix that was applied.
What does the Design Health Check score?
Design Health Check is a read-only scan of the whole drawing that answers one question: is this design fit to ship? It runs a rule set across the design’s areas and returns a 0 to 100 score with a grade, without changing anything in the drawing. The status line reports when the last scan ran, how long it took, and how many rules were checked.
Findings are grouped by the part of the workflow they belong to, from terrain through layout to electrical, and each carries a Zoom action that jumps to the offending object. An area with no findings reads "all checks passed." Results export as an HTML report or a findings CSV, which makes the health check a natural gate before a drawing goes to a client, before a site assessment request, and after collision analysis has done its work.
Lightning protection coverage to IEC 62305-3
Lightning protection studies usually leave the design tool entirely and come back weeks later as a consultant PDF. PVX.AI runs the rolling-sphere method per IEC 62305-3 inside the drawing. You pick the lightning protection level, which fixes the rolling-sphere radius, place the masts, and run the coverage analysis.
The results state the mast count, the share of the PV area protected, and a list of every piece of equipment outside the protected volume, along with the modelling caveats. On sloping ground the protected height reference is fixed by the tallest rack anywhere, so a mast standing lower honestly reports a smaller protected radius. A coverage overlay draws in the drawing, and the analysis exports as HTML or CSV for the protection engineer of record.
Mast placement also respects itself: no modules are placed inside a mast’s restriction radius, and at least 1 m stays clear around the base for the footing, the earth electrode, and maintenance access.
Frequently asked questions
What does collision analysis check on a solar design?
Every rack in a PV area is checked against the terrain it stands on: pile reveals against the rack spec’s reveal band, ground clearance along the structure’s underside (including between piles), and directional slope limits. Multi-row tracker groups are judged as single units.
Can PVX.AI fix collision findings automatically?
Yes, by cheapest remedy first. Shift-fixable racks get a one-click rigid vertical lift with no ground moved. The full design pass lifts where a lift reaches the band and grades only under the piles that still miss. Racks it cannot act on are held and reported, never silently modified.
What happens to racks that need grading?
They are classified as grading-required and hand off to targeted terrain adaptation: the ground is corrected only under the selected racks while the rest of the PV area is held as constraints. The scan reports the cut and fill volumes the fix costs.
What is the Design Health Check score?
A read-only scan of the whole drawing that runs a rule set across terrain, layout, and electrical and returns a 0 to 100 score with a grade. Findings zoom to the offending object, and the results export as an HTML report or findings CSV.
Does the lightning analysis replace a protection study?
It runs the IEC 62305-3 rolling-sphere method on the real design and reports protected area, unprotected equipment, and modelling caveats, with HTML and CSV export. Sign-off remains with the protection engineer of record; the analysis gives them the geometry to review instead of a blank sheet.
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