How it works
Four steps from a bill of materials to a traceable report.
- Describe the module
Cells, encapsulant, backsheet or glass, frame and junction box: the bill of materials (BOM). - Choose the stress and climate
Damp heat, UV, thermal cycling, potential-induced degradation; the site climate. - See mechanisms and failures
Which material drives which failure mode, with the evidence behind it. - Get the impact and report
Performance loss, yield effect and a report in which every number has a source.
From cell to plant
- CellTechnology, passivation, metallisation
- Bill of materialsGlass, encapsulant, backsheet, frame, junction box
- ModuleStress tests, mechanisms, failure modes
- PlantClimate, yield, P50 and P90
- Scorecard and reportEvery number linked to its source
From stress to performance impact
- StressorDamp heat, UV, thermal cycling, voltage
- MechanismFor example, passivation loss under UV
- FailurePower loss, corrosion, cracks
- Performance impactLower yield over the years
This chain is familiar from the research community; see Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s PV Tools degradation pathway explorer (DuraMAT) for an excellent public example. Āyuṣya adds the bill of materials and an uncertainty budget.
Yield and risk
Energy-yield risk is expressed as P50 and P90 values from an uncertainty budget whose independent components are combined in quadrature (root-sum-square), as in the GUM (JCGM 100:2008) for uncorrelated components.
Illustration only, not to scale.