3D plot using time series

I'm trying to create a 3D graph like the image below. I have attached a reduced data set of my results below. Does anyone know how this would work?

I've currently tried surf and waterfall but I can't seem to get it working. It a mess but this is kind of what I've been working with

results.

In effect I want each day of the results to be shown on a different "slice"

%Sets Date time format for when table is read
opts = detectImportOptions("results.xlsx","Sheet","Sheet1");
opts = setvartype(opts,"Date","datetime");
opts = setvaropts(opts,"Date",'InputFormat','dd.MM. HH:mm');
results = readtable("results.xlsx",opts);



x = results.Efficiency;              
y = results.Power;               

% z = results.Date;        % HOW DO YOU INCLUDE THIS?  

[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y);
Z = peaks(X,Y);
waterfall(X,Y,Z)

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

results = readtable('https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/uploaded_files/980365/results.xlsx', 'VariableNamingRule','preserve');
results.Date = datetime(results.Date, 'InputFormat','MM.dd. HH:mm', 'Format','MM.dd. HH:mm')

results = 30×15 table
        Date        AmbientTemp    SkyTemp    GlassTemp    PVTemp    AbsorberTemp    Irradiance    WindSpeed    Power     WaterTemp    WaterTemp2    Efficiency    Hwind     Kair       Pb   
    ____________    ___________    _______    _________    ______    ____________    __________    _________    ______    _________    __________    __________    ______    _____    _______

    01.01. 00:00       300.3       287.26      287.26      286.89        286.5             0          3.7            0        0          289.95       0.19869      19.952    300.3      -1200
    01.01. 01:00       299.5       286.11      286.11      285.77       285.41             0          3.2            0        0          289.43       0.19878      18.022    299.5      -1200
    01.01. 02:00       298.6       284.82      284.82      284.35       283.85             0          4.8            0        0          288.68       0.19889      24.198    298.6      -1200
    01.01. 03:00       299.3       285.82      285.82      285.31       284.77             0          5.5            0        0          289.12       0.19881        26.9    299.3      -1200
    01.01. 04:00       298.8       285.11      285.11      284.62        284.1             0          5.1            0        0           288.8       0.19887      25.356    298.8      -1200
    01.01. 05:00       299.1       285.54      285.54      285.13       284.71             0            4            0        0          289.09       0.19883       21.11    299.1      -1200
    01.01. 06:00       299.1       285.54      285.86      285.47       285.04          12.9            4       2.5645        0          289.25        0.1988       21.11    299.1    -1197.4
    01.01. 07:00         300       286.83      293.07      292.88       292.43           259          4.2       51.337        0          292.78       0.19821      21.882      300    -1148.7
    01.01. 08:00       300.9       288.12      299.65      299.66       299.18           498          4.2       98.443        0             296       0.19768      21.882    300.9    -1101.6
    01.01. 09:00       301.6       289.13      303.02      303.13       302.63           614          4.2        121.2        0          297.65        0.1974      21.882    301.6    -1078.8
    01.01. 10:00       302.5       290.42      311.37      311.75       311.19           972          4.4       191.21        0          301.74       0.19672      22.654    302.5    -1008.8
    01.01. 11:00       302.8       290.85      306.95      307.17       306.67           732          4.8       144.26        0          299.58       0.19708      24.198    302.8    -1055.7
    01.01. 12:00         303       291.14      308.95      309.22       308.71           819          4.6       161.28        0          300.55       0.19692      23.426      303    -1038.7
    01.01. 13:00       303.1       291.28      306.04       306.2       305.72           669          4.8        131.9        0          299.12       0.19716      24.198    303.1    -1068.1
    01.01. 14:00         303       291.14      304.11       304.2       303.73           582          4.6       114.84        0          298.18       0.19732      23.426      303    -1085.2
    01.01. 15:00       302.4       290.28      296.13       295.9       295.41           251          5.9       49.691        0           294.2       0.19797      28.444    302.4    -1150.3

x = results.Efficiency;
y = results.Power;
z = results.AmbientTemp;

xv = linspace(min(x), max(x), numel(x));                % Create Vector For Interpolation
yv = linspace(min(y), max(y), numel(y));                % Create Vector For Interpolation

[X,Y] = ndgrid(xv,yv);                                  % Create Matrices For Interpolation
Z = griddata(x, y, z, X, Y);                            % Interpolate Matrix

figure
stem3(x, y, z, 'p', 'filled')
grid on
title('Stem Plot')

figure
surfc(X, Y, Z)
grid on
xlabel('Efficiency')
ylabel('Power')
zlabel('Temperature [°C]')
title('Surface Plot')

Experiment with this approach with your actual data.

.

[Ieuan Price-davies]

That looks great thank you! Is there anyway of having x be the hour of the day and z be the day number within in the year?

[Star Strider]

My pleasure!

To do something similar to the original plot in the question, this works —

results = readtable('https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/uploaded_files/980365/results.xlsx', 'VariableNamingRule','preserve');
results.Date = datetime(results.Date, 'InputFormat','MM.dd. HH:mm', 'Format','MM.dd. HH:mm')

results = 30×15 table
        Date        AmbientTemp    SkyTemp    GlassTemp    PVTemp    AbsorberTemp    Irradiance    WindSpeed    Power     WaterTemp    WaterTemp2    Efficiency    Hwind     Kair       Pb   
    ____________    ___________    _______    _________    ______    ____________    __________    _________    ______    _________    __________    __________    ______    _____    _______

    01.01. 00:00       300.3       287.26      287.26      286.89        286.5             0          3.7            0        0          289.95       0.19869      19.952    300.3      -1200
    01.01. 01:00       299.5       286.11      286.11      285.77       285.41             0          3.2            0        0          289.43       0.19878      18.022    299.5      -1200
    01.01. 02:00       298.6       284.82      284.82      284.35       283.85             0          4.8            0        0          288.68       0.19889      24.198    298.6      -1200
    01.01. 03:00       299.3       285.82      285.82      285.31       284.77             0          5.5            0        0          289.12       0.19881        26.9    299.3      -1200
    01.01. 04:00       298.8       285.11      285.11      284.62        284.1             0          5.1            0        0           288.8       0.19887      25.356    298.8      -1200
    01.01. 05:00       299.1       285.54      285.54      285.13       284.71             0            4            0        0          289.09       0.19883       21.11    299.1      -1200
    01.01. 06:00       299.1       285.54      285.86      285.47       285.04          12.9            4       2.5645        0          289.25        0.1988       21.11    299.1    -1197.4
    01.01. 07:00         300       286.83      293.07      292.88       292.43           259          4.2       51.337        0          292.78       0.19821      21.882      300    -1148.7
    01.01. 08:00       300.9       288.12      299.65      299.66       299.18           498          4.2       98.443        0             296       0.19768      21.882    300.9    -1101.6
    01.01. 09:00       301.6       289.13      303.02      303.13       302.63           614          4.2        121.2        0          297.65        0.1974      21.882    301.6    -1078.8
    01.01. 10:00       302.5       290.42      311.37      311.75       311.19           972          4.4       191.21        0          301.74       0.19672      22.654    302.5    -1008.8
    01.01. 11:00       302.8       290.85      306.95      307.17       306.67           732          4.8       144.26        0          299.58       0.19708      24.198    302.8    -1055.7
    01.01. 12:00         303       291.14      308.95      309.22       308.71           819          4.6       161.28        0          300.55       0.19692      23.426      303    -1038.7
    01.01. 13:00       303.1       291.28      306.04       306.2       305.72           669          4.8        131.9        0          299.12       0.19716      24.198    303.1    -1068.1
    01.01. 14:00         303       291.14      304.11       304.2       303.73           582          4.6       114.84        0          298.18       0.19732      23.426      303    -1085.2
    01.01. 15:00       302.4       290.28      296.13       295.9       295.41           251          5.9       49.691        0           294.2       0.19797      28.444    302.4    -1150.3

x = hour(results.Date);
y = day(results.Date, 'dayofyear');
z = results.AmbientTemp;

xv = linspace(min(x), max(x), numel(x));                % Create Vector For Interpolation
yv = linspace(min(y), max(y), numel(y));                % Create Vector For Interpolation

[X,Y] = ndgrid(xv,yv);                                  % Create Matrices For Interpolation
Z = griddata(x, y, z, X, Y);                            % Interpolate Matrix

figure
stem3(x, y, z, 'p', 'filled')
grid on
xlabel('Hour')
ylabel('Day of Year')
zlabel('Temperature [°C]')
title('Stem Plot')

figure
surfc(X, Y, Z)
grid on
xlabel('Hour')
ylabel('Day of Year')
zlabel('Temperature [°C]')
title('Surface Plot')

That should also work with the larger data file.

The original plot has hours on the x-axis, days on the y-axis and temperature on the z-axis, so that is what I am doing here. If you want day on the z-axis, reverse the order of the arguments to the surf function —

figure
surfc(X, Z, Y)
grid on
xlabel('Hour')
zlabel('Day of Year')
ylabel('Temperature [°C]')
title('Surface Plot')

That looks a bit strange to me, however ‘mine is not to reason why ...’

.

[Ieuan Price-davies]

Thank you Star Strider that's amazing!

[Star Strider]

As always, my pleasure!

To create different surface plots, change the ‘x’ and ‘y’ variables in my code to be the independent variables for the plot, and then use the appropriate ‘z’ vector in the griddata call. The code should be relatively robust to those changes.