To bring more confidence in the use of BIPV, in construction sector as a traditional element of building skin, the definition of the most appropriate fire requirements and test is needed for the BIPV development. Currently fire tests are executed both in PV and building product certification, by performing different test procedures. Concerning the PV Side, for modification outside of the scope of IEC 61215 and IEC 61730-2 any modifications must use the retesting guideline described in IEC TS 62915 and to follow MST 23 (fire test) and MST 24 (ignitability test). Concerning the building side test requirements for construction products follow CPR recommendation (CPR 305/2011) as a main procedure for product categories without no harmonized technical specification. In the presented procedures the combination of fire test and active electric part is the main goal.

The methodology is to describe a general test method, defining equipment and the configuration used in order to assess the fire classification under electric load of the BIPV roof and façade systems. The method aims at evaluating product’s integrity after an additional stress due to an application of an additional load which can generate electric hazards, mainly electrical arcs, promoting additional fire ignition, bringing an additive ignitibility source with possible negative effects on fire propagation, resulting in a performance downgrade in terms of fire resistance and fire reaction.

BIPVBOOST Indoor & outdoor performance-based laboratory testing procedures for BIPV products contributing partners