As noted in the previous case, the shattered module is on the bottom
corner. Those are the most vulnerable to damage from animals, kids,
vehicles, etc. The tempered glass always shatters as you described,
when enough force is applied. Look very closely for some slight bending
of the frame which would indicate that it was hit by something. Grazing
animals like to scratch their sides on things, and the array might have
been just the right height for a scratching post. 1000 lb animal leans
on module, and boom, the module shatters completely.
We've had pole mount systems in place for decades, so its very unlikely
that its an issue with the frame itself.
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 6/21/2014 1:24 PM, Richard L Ratico wrote:
A client of mine suffered a mysterious shattered module on a DPW TOP rack. The
rack holds eight of these in landscape orientation. The one that broke was in
the lower, west corner of the array. The glass appears to be uniformly
shattered, with pieces approximately 1/4" in size. The glass has not started to
fall out of the frame, but it seems that is only a matter of time. The module is
still producing power. The install, by others, was done about 9 years ago. There
is no apparent cause of the failure. It happened here, in Vermont, towards the
end of an unusually severe winter when the snow was already gone, but mowing had
not yet commenced.
There was a discussion here just a while ago that involved a broken SolarWorld
module on a similar rack. Has anyone seen this since then?
Would anyone have one of these or an Evergreen of the same size? Please respond
off list.
Dick Ratico
Solarwind Electric
802-222-9028
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