Photovoltaic Module Qualification Plus Testing

Author

Wohlgemuth, John ; Kurtz, S.

Author_Institution

Nat. Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

8-13 June 2014

Firstpage

3589

Lastpage

3594

Abstract

Reliability is a critical element in the continued growth of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. Design qualification tests such as IEC 61215 and IEC 61646 have been key to mitigating infant mortality, but do not address many of the module failures now observed in the field. Qualification Plus has been created to fill an immediate need by providing a well-defined set of accelerated stress tests that correlate with the field performance of PV modules. The tests in Qualification Plus include module-level tests like those in the qualification test sequences, as well as material and component level tests like those in the module safety standard. This paper will describe the details of Qualification Plus including the rationale for the required tests, the selection of samples, and the requirements for the Quality Management System.

Keywords

photovoltaic cells; quality management; reliability; solar cells; standards; testing; design qualification tests; infant mortality; module level tests; photovoltaic industry; photovoltaic module qualification plus testing; photovoltaic reliability; qualification test sequence; quality management system; Acceleration; Heating; IEC standards; Indexes; RNA; Reliability; Quality Management Systems; accelerated stress testing; potential-induced degradation; reliability and durability of PV modules;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2014.6924883

Filename

6924883