Photovoltaic Laboratory Safety, Code-Compliance, and Commercial Off-the-Shelf Equipment

Photovoltaic Laboratory: Safety, Code-Compliance, and Commercial Off-the-Shelf Equipment is the only textbook that offers students the opportunity to design, build, test, and troubleshoot practical PV systems based on commercially available equipment. Complete with electrical schematics, layouts, and step-by-step installation instructions, this hands-on laboratory manual:

• Promotes "safety first" by covering working in extreme weather conditions, personal protective equipment, working at heights, electrical safety, and power tool safety
• Includes chapters on trade math, DC/AC electrical circuits, and assessing a property for a photovoltaic system (e.g., surveying the available space, shading, and solar harvest)
• Discusses aspects of mechanical and electric integration specific to different roof types, and characterizing a PV module under different levels of irradiation and ambient temperature
• Addresses the design, installation, and testing of off-grid PV systems with DC-only loads and with DC and AC loads, as well as 2.4 kw DC grid-tied PV systems with microinverters and string inverters
• Trains students on exactly the sort of equipment that they will encounter in the field, so they gain valuable experience and skills that translate directly to real-world applications

Photovoltaic Laboratory: Safety, Code-Compliance, and Commercial Off-the-Shelf providesin-depth, project-driven instruction on everything from attaching brackets and flashing to modeling PV cells, modules, and arrays. This textbook is ideal preparation for those seeking a career in the PV industry?from system installers and designers to quality assurance and sales/marketing personnel.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
How to Use This Textbook
The Author
1 Safety
2 Trade Math for PV—Measurements, Units, and Calculations
3 Measurements of DC and AC Electrical Circuits
4 The Site Survey
5 Racking Systems—General Considerations
6 Characterization of a PV Module
7 Modeling the PV Cell, Module, and Array
8 Lead-Acid Absorbent Glass Mat Batteries
9 Off-Grid PV System with DC-Only Loads
10 Off-Grid PV System with DC and AC Loads
11 2.4 kW DC Grid-Tied PV System with Microinverters
12 2.4 kW DC Grid-Tied PV System with String Inverter

Appendix I: Small Mock Roofs
Appendix II: Roll-Around Walls
Appendix III: 21 ft. by 18 ft. Roof

Peter T. Parrish is an adjunct professor at Santa Monica College, California. He also teaches at Cerritos College, Norwalk, California, and Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California. In addition, he has taught at Pierce College, Woodland Hill, California; College of the Desert, Palm Springs, California; and College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, California, where he developed the solar program and chaired the Alternative Energy and Transportation Technology Department. He has taught and conducted research at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; served as a consultant to MIT Lincoln Laboratories, Lexington, Massachusetts; and held adjunct faculty positions at Northeastern University, Boston, and Drexel University, Philadelphia. He received his BS from the University of Colorado and his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley, both in physics.