DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW TEST STANDARD AND EXPERIENCES OF TRANSPORTATION AND ‘ROUGH HANDLING’ TESTING ON PV MODULES

摘要

The experience in long-term behaviors of PV-modules after initial transportation stresses is limited.Current standards do not give guidance as how to simulate PV module transportation and these subsequent stresses. Thisscientific work shall give an overview of the current research on the field of PV module transportation testing, such as‘rough handling’ impact testing of single modules as well as shock and vibration testing of complete module stacks.Several crystalline modules were exposed to individual shock impacts on the basis of IEC 60068-2-31 and subsequentenvironmental tests to estimate the influences of handling failures. Results from the test series indicate clearly the initialdamage and influence on a long-term perspective living through several further mechanical and thermo-mechanicalstresses. Concluding, the impact and shock test issues shall give evidence to installers, distributors and manufacturers that‘rough handling’ of modules can significantly influence the reliability and safety of the products. This work contributesto an international standardization working group within IEC TC 82, working group (WG) 2, to develop a harmonizedstandard for the transportation testing of PV modules.