EN 61646:2008

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-december-2008
1DGRPHãþD
SIST EN 61646:2001
Tankoplastni prizemni fotonapetostni (PV) moduli - Ocena zasnove in odobritev
tipa (IEC 61646:2008)
Thin-film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules - Design qualification and type approval
Terrestrische Dünnschicht-Photovoltaik (PV)-Module - Bauarteignung und
Bauartzulassung
Modules photovoltaïques (PV) en couches minces pour application terrestre -
Qualification de la conception et homologation
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 61646:2008
ICS:
27.160 6RQþQDHQHUJLMD Solar energy engineering
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD
EN 61646
NORME EUROPÉENNE
August 2008
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 27.160 Supersedes EN 61646:1997

English version
Thin-film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules -
Design qualification and type approval
(IEC 61646:2008)
Modules photovoltaïques (PV)  Terrestrische Dünnschicht-Photovoltaik
en couches minces (PV)-Module -
pour application terrestre - Bauarteignung und Bauartzulassung
Qualification de la conception (IEC 61646:2008)
et homologation
(CEI 61646:2008)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2008-06-01. CENELEC members are bound to comply
with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard
the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified
to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels

© 2008 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 61646:2008 E
Foreword
The text of document 82/512/FDIS, future edition 2 of IEC 61646, prepared by IEC TC 82, Solar
photovoltaic energy systems, was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and was approved by
CENELEC as EN 61646 on 2008-06-01.
This European Standard supersedes EN 61646:1997.
The major change is in the pass/fail criteria. It no longer relies on meeting a plus/minus criterion before
and after each test, but rather on meeting the rated power after all of the tests have been completed and
the modules have been light-soaked. This was done to eliminate the technology-specific preconditioning
necessary to accurately measure the changes caused by the test. (Some modules lose power in light
while others lose power during dark heat.) Since all modules must work after exposure to light, this
seemed like a good approach and will streamline the test procedure, hopefully reducing the testing cost.
– updated normative references;
– added a definition of “minimum value of maximum output power”;
– modified the wording in major visual defects to allow some bending and misalignment without failure;
– added requirements to the report from EN ISO/IEC 17025;
– removed the “Twist Test” as was done from EN 61215, since no one has ever failed this test;
– made the pass/fail criteria for insulation resistance and wet leakage current dependent on the module
area;
– added the temperature coefficient of power (δ) to the required measurements;
– modified temperature coefficient section to allow for measurements under natural sunlight or a solar
simulator;
– deleted reference plate method from NOCT;
– added apparatus sections to those test procedures that did not have apparatus sections in
EN 61646:1997;
– rewrote the hot-spot test;
– eliminated edge dip method from wet leakage current test;
– changed mechanical load test to 3 cycles to be consistent with other standards;
– added bypass diode thermal test.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
national standard or by endorsement (dop) 2009-03-01
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
with the EN have to be withdrawn (dow) 2011-06-01
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
- 3 - EN 61646:2008
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 61646:2008 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards indicated:
IEC 60904-5 NOTE  Harmonized as EN 60904-5:1995 (not modified).
IEC 60904-8 NOTE  Harmonized as EN 60904-8:1998 (not modified).
__________
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.

NOTE  When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant EN/HD
applies.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year

1) 2)
IEC 60068-1 - Environmental testing - EN 60068-1 1994
Part 1: General and guidance
1) 2)
IEC 60068-2-21 - Environmental testing - EN 60068-2-21 2006
Part 2-21: Tests - Test U: Robustness of
terminations and integral mounting devices

2)
IEC 60068-2-78 2001 Environmental testing - EN 60068-2-78 2001
Part 2-78: Tests - Test Cab: Damp heat,
steady state
1)
IEC 60410 - Sampling plans and procedures for inspection - -
by attributes
1) 2)
IEC 60721-2-1 - Classification of environmental conditions - HD 478.2.1 S1 1989
Part 2-1: Environmental conditions appearing
in nature - Temperature and humidity

1) 2)
IEC 60891 - Procedures for temperature and irradiance EN 60891 1994
corrections to measured I-V characteristics of
crystalline silicon photovoltaic devices

2)
IEC 60904-1 2006 Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-1 2006
Part 1: Measurement of photovoltaic current-
voltage characteristics
1) 2)
IEC 60904-2 - Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-2 2007
Part 2: Requirements for reference solar
devices
1) 2)
IEC 60904-3 - Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-3 2008
Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial
photovoltaic (PV) solar devices with reference
spectral irradiance data
1) 2)
IEC 60904-7 - Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-7 1998
Part 7: Computation of spectral mismatch
error introduced in the testing of a photovoltaic
device
1) 2)
IEC 60904-9 - Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-9 2007
Part 9: Solar simulator performance
requirements
1) 2)
IEC 60904-10 - Photovoltaic devices - EN 60904-10 1998
Part 10: Methods of linearity measurement

1) 2)
IEC 61215 - Crystalline silicon terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) EN 61215 2005
modules - Design qualification and type
approval
1)
Undated reference.
2)
Valid edition at date of issue.

- 5 - EN 61646:2008
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year

1) 2)
ISO/IEC 17025 - General requirements for the competence of EN ISO/IEC 17025 2005
testing and calibration laboratories

IEC 61646
Edition 2.0 2008-05
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Thin-film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules – Design qualification and type
approval
Modules photovoltaïques (PV) en couches minces pour application terrestre –
Qualification de la conception et homologation

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
X
CODE PRIX
ICS 27.160 ISBN 2-8318-9746-7
– 2 – 61646 © IEC:2008
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.5
1 Scope and object.7
2 Normative references .7
3 Sampling .8
4 Marking .8
5 Testing .9
6 Pass criteria .9
7 Major visual defects.10
8 Report .10
9 Modifications .11
10 Test procedures .14
10.1 Visual inspection .14
10.1.1 Purpose.14
10.1.2 Procedure.14
10.1.3 Requirements .14
10.2 Maximum power determination .14
10.2.1 Purpose.14
10.2.2 Apparatus.14
10.2.3 Procedure.14
10.3 Insulation test.15
10.3.1 Purpose.15
10.3.2 Apparatus.15
10.3.3 Test conditions .15
10.3.4 Procedure.15
10.3.5 Test requirements.16
10.4 Measurement of temperature coefficients .16
10.4.1 Purpose.16
10.4.2 Apparatus.16
10.4.3 Procedure.16
10.5 Measurement of nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT).18
10.5.1 Purpose.18
10.5.2 Introduction .18
10.5.3 Principle .18
10.5.4 Apparatus.18
10.5.5 Test module mounting .19
10.5.6 Procedure.19
10.6 Performance at STC and NOCT .21
10.6.1 Purpose.21
10.6.2 Apparatus.22
10.6.3 Procedure.22
10.7 Performance at low irradiance .22
10.7.1 Purpose.22
10.7.2 Apparatus.22
10.7.3 Procedure.22
10.8 Outdoor exposure test .23

SIST EN 61646
...