Experimental study on burning and toxicity hazards of a PET laminated photovoltaic panel

Abstract Currently, photovoltaics have been used on a large scale for commercial and civilian use. Aging short circuit, fire and other reasons will bring great security risks. In this paper, an experimental study of burning and toxic hazards was carried out on a widely used, flammable photovoltaic panel with a sample size of 180 mm*180  mm at atmospheric conditions. Combustion experiments were performed on the early stage fire characteristics bench of State Key Laboratory of Fire Science in China. Several important combustion parameters were investigated by oxygen consumption method under four representative external thermal (15 kW/m2,20 kW/m2,30 kW/m2,40 kW/m2), including Ignition Time, Heat Release Rate, Mass Loss Rate and Total Heat of Combustion. The results of experimental combustion heat were consistent with the thermodynamic calculation data of various organic matter in the sample. Several dangerous toxic gases have been detected, such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen cyanide and a small amount of VOCs, of which the concentration of sulfur dioxide is relatively high. In the case of higher external radiant heat, there is a higher risk.