[pvusers] Re: Delamination of Siemens M55 modules

["Robert Warren" <robertwarren@mail.com>]

Rudolph,
  As your company is named, Minder Energy Consulting, I assume you have a customer who has this problem and seeks your advice. So you need to know, a) is it a problem, and b) if so, what can be done to correct it?

 I have had experience in the USA with various types of de-laminations over about a 12-year period. This is a pretty rare occurrence with most manufacturers: I have seen it mainly in quite old Mobile Oil 190-watt modules. As these were almost 2 meters square, they got pretty hot and there were expansion/contraction issues, because we used them in a fairly extreme environment (at Rocky Mountain Institute near Aspen, Colorado and at +2,000 m elevation). So those panels could see a +100C temperature change in a single day! They fact is, even with some de-lamination problems, they still worked fine after 12 years. We caulked around the bottom edges with a good silicone caulk, and that did the trick. 
  I see you live in Switzerland, so you probably have abut the same extreme conditions we had in Aspen, Colorado, due to temperature extremes in the winter. 
 I have also seen de-lamination occur mainly due to mis-handling or some kind of abrasion occurring during shipping. Then moisture makes it way inside, and either by boiling or by freezing, it expands and creates bubbles. 
  Once you have moisture inside a module, their isn't too much to do to get it out, except to try to seal it with silicone at the end of a really hot day but before it has started to cool down and draw back inn the evening's moist cooler air. 
 You should measure the power output from each panel directly to see how close to the original power output the module still is.  Then you can watch to see if the problem gets worse or stays the same.
Good luck,
Robert Warren
Senior Engineer,
Solar Century
www.solarcentury.co.uk

From: Rudolf Minder <rudolf.minder@bluewin.ch>
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 15:42:31 +0200
To: pvusers@crest.org
Subject: [pvusers] Delamination of Siemens M55 modules 

> Hi everyone
> Is there any experience around with delamination effects on old (> 8
> yrs) Siemens M55 pv modules ?
> Thanks for any information.
> Rudolf
> --
> Minder Energy Consulting
> Dr. Rudolf Minder
> Ruchweid 22,  CH-8917 Oberlunkhofen, Switzerland
> Tel +41 (0)56 640 14 64,  Fax +41 (0)56 640 14 62

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robertwarren@mail.com

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