IEC TS 61836:2007
(Main)Solar photovoltaic energy systems - Terms, definitions and symbols
Solar photovoltaic energy systems - Terms, definitions and symbols
Provides terms, definitions and symbols from national and international solar photovoltaic standards and relevant documents used within the field of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. The main changes with respect to the previous edition are as follows: increased number of terms, inclusion of a list of abbreviations, organization of terms in categories and families.
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IEC/TS 61836
Edition 2.0 2007-12
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATION
Solar photovoltaic energy systems – Terms, definitions and symbols
IEC/TS 61836:2007(E)
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IEC/TS 61836
Edition 2.0 2007-12
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATION
Solar photovoltaic energy systems – Terms, definitions and symbols
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
XC
ICS 27.160 ISBN 2-8318-9506-5
– 2 – TS 61836 © IEC:2007(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3
INTRODUCTION.5
1 Scope and object.6
2 Normative references .6
3 Glossary of terms and symbols for solar photovoltaic energy systems .6
3.1 Solar photovoltaic cells and modules.6
3.2 Solar photovoltaic systems components .16
3.3 Solar photovoltaic systems.21
3.4 Solar photovoltaic system and component performance parameters .32
3.5 Measurement devices.50
3.6 Environmental parameters.51
3.7 Quality and testing .59
3.8 Concentrator photovoltaics.64
3.9 Project management .66
3.10 Miscellaneous .67
4 Acronyms and abbreviations.67
Bibliography.70
Index of terms and symbols .72
TS 61836 © IEC:2007(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY SYSTEMS –
TERMS, DEFINITIONS AND SYMBOLS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
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with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
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Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
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4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
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between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
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5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. In
exceptional circumstances, a technical committee may propose the publication of a technical
specification when
• the required support cannot be obtained for the publication of an International Standard,
despite repeated efforts, or
• The subject is still under technical development or where, for any other reason, there is
the future but no immediate possibility of an agreement on an International Standard.
Technical specifications are subject to review within three years of publication to decide
whether they can be transformed into International Standards.
IEC 61836, which is a technical specification, has been prepared IEC technical committee 82:
Solar photovoltaic energy systems.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1997. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
– 4 – TS 61836 © IEC:2007(E)
This edition included the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
1) The number of terms has increased. Abbreviations have been included.
2) The terms in Edition 2 are organised into categories and families. Terms contained in
families are cross referenced with an alphabetical listing. A bibliography and an index were
added. The purpose of aggregating terms into families is to allow readers to easily see the
relationships between terms that speak of similar quantities and subjects but that have slight
variations.
The text of this technical specification is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
82/442/DTS 82/487/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical specification can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• transformed into an International standard,
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
A bilingual edition of this document may be issued at a later date.
TS 61836 © IEC:2007(E) – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
Following the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, specific Standards have
been prepared by IEC Technical Committee 82 since 1987. The terms and symbols used in
the PV industry necessitate a systematisation in order to have a consolidated glossary for
experts’ common understanding.
This Glossary lists the terms and symbols that the PV industry commonly uses. It is a living
document that will change as new terms and symbols are added. These have been
harmonized with IEC 60050 and other IEC documents as far as possible. All definitions not
included in this Technical Specification may be found elsewhere in other IEC documents.
NOTE 1 The terms "PV", "photovoltaic" and "solar photovoltaic" can be read and used interchangeably and without
the need for stating each term to show that each are applicable and commonly used by the solar photovoltaic
industry.
NOTE 2 All terms beginning with "solar photovoltaic" and "PV" are listed under their respective "photovoltaic"
names.
NOTE 3 The terms are listed alphabetically in ten categories. Under these categories, some of the terms have
been grouped into families of related meaning in order for the reader to readily see the differences between the
terms.
NOTE 4 This Glossary lists the precise usage of terms. Cross-references are provided to efficiently point the
reader to the location of definitions. For example, a "solar photovoltaic array" may also be referred to as
"photovoltaic array" or "array" when the reference to it is particularly clear. The definition for this term, for
example, occurs under the family heading of "photovoltaic" in the "Solar photovoltaic systems" section.
NOTE 5 The colloquial use of "solar" as the sole adjective of a noun is discouraged. For example, though "solar
array" may be commonly used in non-technical conversations, the precise terms are "solar photovoltaic array",
"photovoltaic array", and "array".
NOTE 6 Unless specifically noted otherwise, the terms "device", "cell", "module", "array", "sub-array", "field",
"component", "system", and "product" refer to items incorporating a photovoltaic device. As a result, each of these
terms can be understood to read as "PV device", "PV cell", "PV module", etc., without having to re-state the term
"PV" each time, though now and then it is useful to re-state "PV".
NOTE 7 The numeric quantities described by many of the terms can be expressed over any convenient unit of time
that the user may wish, such as day, month or year.
NOTE 8 "W " is not a recommended unit for rated power. For example for a 50 W module, the correct terminology
p
is "the rated power is 50 W", and not "the power is 50 W ".
p
NOTE 9 The documents from which these terms originated are shown in square brackets [ ]. Some adaptations
may have occurred.
NOTE 10 This Glossary document recognises the related IEC co-ordinating Technical Committees:
1 Terminology 77 Electromagnetic compatibility
21 Secondary cells and batteries 82 Solar photovoltaic energy systems
22 Power electronic systems and 88 Wind turbines
equipment
47 Semiconductor devices 105 Fuel cell technologies
64 Electrical installations and 106 Methods for the assessment of electric,
protection against electric shock magnetic and electromagnetic fields
associated with human exposure
– 6 – TS 61836 © IEC:2007(E)
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY SYSTEMS –
TERMS, DEFINITIONS AND SYMBOLS
1 Scope and object
This Technical Specification deals with the terms and symbols from national and international
solar photovoltaic standards and relevant documents used within the field of solar
photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. It includes the terms and symbols compiled from the
published IEC technical committee 82 standards, previously published as technical report
IEC 61836:1997.
The focus of this Technical Specification is "what do the words mean" and not "under what
conditions do the terms apply".
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applie
...
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