Types of damage that a PV module may sustain in the event of hail. Hailstones usually have a high impact force and hardness, which may cause glass breakage on the surface of the module or damage to the internal circuitry. Therefore, the design of the mount needs to have some protection to minimize the direct impact of hail on the module. The following are some of the protective measures:

I. Structural reinforcement and angle optimization

Tilt Angle Design

Adjust the angle of inclination of the bracket to 30°-40°, to reduce the probability of vertical impact of hail, and use the inclined surface to disperse the impact force.

Double fastening structure

Adopting bolt + welding composite fixing method to enhance the overall stability of the bracket and avoid loosening caused by the impact of hail.

II. Upgrading the impact resistance of materials and components

Bracket material

Hot-dip galvanized steel (zinc layer ≥ 80μm) or aluminum alloy frame, tensile strength ≥ 500MPa, can withstand 12 strong winds + hail compound impacts.

Component Glass

4mm fully toughened glass (in accordance with IEC 61215), surface hardness ≥ 6H, resistant to 25mm hail 23m/s impact.

Protective Coating

Transparent protective polyurethane coating (0.5mm thickness) reduces the risk of glass cracking and increases impact energy absorption by 30%.

III. Deployment of physical protection devices

Hail prevention net system

Highly transparent (≥90%) polyethylene protection net (aperture ≤15mm) is erected 20cm above the module to intercept large hailstones.

Shock absorbing layer

Rubber shock absorbing cushion (Shore hardness 60±5) is installed at the bottom of the solar bracket to absorb the longitudinal impact energy.

IV. Intelligent monitoring and emergency response

Weather warning linkage

Deployment of radar hail monitoring station (detection radius 15km), 30 minutes advance warning, triggering the stent protection mode

Emergency protection mechanism

Automatic activation of bracket tilt adjustment (0°→45° avoidance mode) in case of extreme warning

Equipped with quick-covering bulletproof cloth (Kevlar material), component sheltering is completed within 10 minutes.

V. Operations and maintenance and risk hedging

Quarterly Inspection Highlights

Check bracket welds/bolt corrosion (using ultrasonic flaw detector)

Test the tensile strength of the protection net (need to be ≥2000N/m²)

Insurance Configuration Recommendation

Take out special hail damage insurance to cover module replacement (coverage ≥$2/W) and power generation loss (coverage ≥$0.8/kWh)

Through the combination of the above technologies, the module breakage rate due to hail can be reduced from 5-8% in conventional design to less than 0.5%, while ensuring that the system power generation efficiency loss is ≤3%.