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IEC 60904-3
Edition 4.0 2019-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Photovoltaic devices –
Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) solar devices
with reference spectral irradiance data
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IEC 60904-3
Edition 4.0 2019-02
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Photovoltaic devices –
Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) solar devices
with reference spectral irradiance data
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 27.160 ISBN 978-2-8322-6585-7
– 2 – IEC 60904-3:2019 RLV © IEC 2019
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope and object . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Measurement principles . 6
5 Reference solar spectral and angular irradiance distribution . 6
Annex A (informative) Use of SMARTS . 64
Bibliography .
Figure 1 – Global and direct reference solar spectral irradiance distribution
listed in Table 1 . 107
Table 1 – Reference solar spectral irradiance distribution . 8
Table A.1 – Input data for generation of reference solar spectral irradiance distribution . 108
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES –
Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV)
solar devices with reference spectral irradiance data
FOREWORD
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This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes
made to the previous edition. A vertical bar appears in the margin wherever a change
has been made. Additions are in green text, deletions are in strikethrough red text.
– 4 – IEC 60904-3:2019 RLV © IEC 2019
International Standard IEC 60904-3 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 82: Solar
photovoltaic energy systems.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition published in 2016. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) all spectral data were recalculated due to some minor calculation and rounding errors in
the third edition; the global spectral irradiance returned to exactly the data of the second
edition;
b) the angular distribution of the irradiance was clarified.
This publication contains an attached file in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. This file is
intended to be used as a complement and does not form an integral part of the publication.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
CDV Report on voting
82/1342/CDV 82/1425/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts of the IEC 60904 series, published under the general title Photovoltaic
devices, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The “colour inside” logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this publication using a colour printer.
PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES –
Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV)
solar devices with reference spectral irradiance data
1 Scope and object
This part of IEC 60904 applies to the following photovoltaic devices for terrestrial applications:
– solar cells with or without a protective cover;
– sub-assemblies of solar cells;
– modules; and
– systems.
NOTE The term “test specimen” is used to denote any of these devices.
The principles contained in this document cover testing in both natural and simulated sunlight.
Photovoltaic conversion is spectrally selective due to the nature of the semiconductor
materials used in PV solar cells and modules. To compare the relative performance of
different PV devices and materials a reference standard solar spectral distribution is
necessary. This document includes such a reference solar spectral irradiance distribution.
This document also describes basic measurement principles for determining the electrical
output of PV devices. The principles given in this document are designed to relate the
performance rating of PV devices to a common reference terrestrial solar spectral irradiance
distribution.
The reference terrestrial solar spectral irradiance distribution is given in this document in
order to classify solar simulators according to the spectral performance requirements
contained in IEC 60904-9.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their
content constitutes requirements 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.
IEC 60891, Photovoltaic devices – Procedures for temperature and irradiance corrections to
measured I-V characteristics
IEC 60904-1, Photovoltaic devices – Part 1: Measurements of photovoltaic current-voltage
characteristics
IEC 60904-2, Photovoltaic devices – Part 2: Requirements for photovoltaic reference devices
IEC 60904-5, Photovoltaic devices – Part 5: Determination of the equivalent cell temperature
(ECT) of photovoltaic (PV) devices by the open-circuit voltage method
IEC 60904-7, Photovoltaic devices – Part 7: Computation of the spectral mismatch correction
for measurements of photovoltaic devices
– 6 – IEC 60904-3:2019 RLV © IEC 2019
IEC 60904-8, Photovoltaic devices – Part 8: Measurement of spectral responsivity of a
photovoltaic (PV) device
IEC 60904-9, Photovoltaic devices – Part 9: Solar simulator performance requirements
IEC 61853-4, Photovoltaic (PV) module performance testing and energy rating - Part 4:
Standard reference climatic profiles
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
4 Measurement principles
In current practice the photovoltaic performance of a solar cell or module is determined by
exposing it at a known temperature to stable sunlight, natural or simulated, and measuring its
current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curve while measuring the magnitude of both the incident
irradiance and the PV device temperature. Detailed I-V curve measurement procedures are
included in IEC 60904-1. The measured performances can then be corrected to standard test
conditions (STC) or other desired conditions of irradiance and temperature according to
IEC 60891. The corrected power output at the maximum power voltage and STC is commonly
referred to as the rated power.
Incident irradiance can be measured by means of a PV reference device (whose spectral
responsivity shall be known) or, if measuring under natural sunlight, by means of a
thermopile-type irradiance detector (pyranometer). If a PV reference device is used, it shall
satisfy the requirements spec
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