GRPU Frame Testing: What Module Makers Should Ask For
Key Takeaway
A GRPU frame test pack is four reports on the drawing you will buy: mechanical load, insulation, salt mist, and UV. Each cover names the method, the sample, the result, the lab, and the revision. A sentence that says “fully tested,” or a module certificate from a different frame, does not fill the pack.
Table of Contents
The Quote That Says “Tested”
Procurement receives a GRPU frame price, a drawing, and one line: tested to outdoor use. Quality cannot score that line. There is no method, no sample photo, and no way to see whether the report used this wall thickness or a coupon from another program. Mass production then starts on a promise.
A GRPU frame test pack is the set of laboratory reports a module maker uses to qualify a glass-fiber-reinforced polyurethane frame before a mass purchase order. Weltrus supplies those frames to module OEMs. This checklist is what to demand in the file. It is not a catalog of Weltrus pass hours. The hours, voltages, and loads that matter are the ones printed on the reports for your drawing revision.
How those results relate to a 25+ year design-life sentence is a separate read: what 25+ year frame life means in specs. How the same gaps show up as cracked corners or open joints is in GRPU frame failure modes. Use this page to collect the papers. Use those pages to interpret the years line and the defect log.
What the Pack Is
Ask for four reports. Keep them as separate files so a missing one is obvious in the folder, not buried in a combined PDF with no index.
| Report | Question it answers | Sample that counts |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical load | Does this section and corner carry the design load with the mounting you will use? | Frame length, corner, or full module built on this drawing. State which. |
| Insulation | What voltage and method were used on this non-conductive profile or on the framed module? | Profile, or framed module if the result is meant for the module safety file. |
| Salt mist | How did the corner, cut end, and surface behave in the salt method named on the cover? | The supplied profile, including a cut end and a corner if the coast is in the project. |
| UV | What surface or strength change was measured after the UV exposure named on the cover? | The shipped profile skin, not a cast plaque of a different compound year. |
Duration, cycle count, and load in pascals belong on each cover. Do not adopt a universal hour count from another supplier’s brochure and then reject a report that used a different published method. Reject a report that omits the method, the sample, or the drawing.
The Four Reports
Mechanical load
Read the load in pascals, the direction (front, back, or both), and the mounting. A coupon bent in a lab fixture answers section stiffness. A full module on the project clamp layout answers the load path you will ship. If the report mounting is a continuous support and your manual uses mid-clamps, the numbers are not interchangeable. Ask the frame supplier which sample the quoted design load refers to, and put that sentence next to the pascal value on your datasheet.
Clamp hardware is part of the test description. Washer diameter and torque change the stress in a polymer wall. If the report does not name them, the installation manual cannot copy a torque from the report. Leave the cell blank until the note exists.
Insulation
GRPU frames are specified as non-conductive. The insulation or dielectric report is how that sentence becomes a measured voltage and a method, instead of an adjective. Record three items: the voltage, the method name, and whether the sample was a bare profile or a framed module. A profile result supports the material claim. A framed-module result supports the module safety file. They are not substitutes.
What installers document about grounding when the frame is non-conductive is covered in non-conductive frame safety. This checklist only makes sure the voltage report exists and names the sample. Local electrical rules still govern the site.
Salt mist
Salt-mist exposure is the coastal row. The cover should state the method, the duration, and the acceptance criteria the lab actually used: for example no structural crack, corner still closed, or a stated change in appearance. Include a cut end and a corner in the sample when the frame will be sawn or keyed. A face-only coupon misses the surfaces that see salt first.
Inland projects with no salt and no agricultural chemicals can record a written waiver for this row, signed by quality, with the site class named. A blank cell is not a waiver. Coastal and farm sites do not get the waiver. The site discussion sits in coastal corrosion resistance for GRPU frames.
UV
The UV report should name the exposure (duration or dose), the property measured afterward, and a photo or description of the sample profile. Strength retained, surface condition, or both may be the result. Whichever the lab measured, the cover has to say so. A color photo without a method is a sales sample.
Match the compound code on the UV report to the compound code on the packing label of the lot you will mold or buy. A report on last year’s compound does not qualify this year’s lot if the designation changed. That match is a paperwork check. It takes minutes and it prevents the most common file error.
Cover Fields Every Report Needs
Score each PDF with the same eight fields. A report that fails two fields goes back. Do not average it into a “mostly tested” status.
- Drawing number and revision, including corner method if the corner is in the product.
- Compound or material code.
- Sample form: profile, corner, cut end, or full module.
- Method name, as printed by the lab.
- Numerical result with units (pascals, volts, hours, or the property the method defines).
- Acceptance criteria used for the pass call.
- Laboratory, report number, and date.
- A sample identification that a receiving inspector can match to a frame in hand.
Put this list in the RFQ so every bidder returns the same shape of file. The commercial fields around it, including MOQ and lead time, are in GRPU frame RFQ specs. Attach the eight-field rule to the quality section of that RFQ. A low price with three of four reports is an incomplete bid.
Frame Reports and the Module Certificate
IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 qualify a module bill of materials. The frame that was on that build is part of the build. Use the module checklist in IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 verification when you are buying modules. Use this page when you are buying frames to put on your own laminate.
Keep the handoff explicit:
- Frame mechanical, UV, salt mist, and insulation reports qualify the frame revision.
- The module certificate qualifies the laminate plus the frame that was on the tested modules.
- Changing from an aluminum frame to GRPU, or from one GRPU revision to another, triggers the retest or delta decision in your certification plan.
- A frame coupon that passes salt mist does not stamp the module certificate. A module certificate does not fill a missing UV report on the new profile.
Write the decision in one paragraph in the quality file: which frame revision the current module certificate covers, and what test runs if the revision changes. Auditors ask for that paragraph. A folder of unlabeled PDFs does not answer them.
When the Mass Order Can Move
Hold the mass purchase order until all of the following are true:
- Four reports are present, or salt mist has a signed site waiver that names the climate.
- Every cover shows the eight fields, and the drawing revision matches the purchase order.
- Compound code on the UV and insulation reports matches the compound you will receive.
- Mechanical mounting in the report matches the clamp note you will publish.
- The module retest decision is written if this frame enters an existing module family.
- One pilot lot has been framed with this revision, and incoming inspection accepted the corners against the photo standard.
Weltrus can index the reports against a named drawing when the RFQ includes design load, climate, and whether you need profile results, module results, or both. Without that scope, a generic pack may describe a different wall. Ask for the index, then open the PDFs. The index is not the evidence.
Limits of This Checklist
- This page does not set pass limits. Pascals, volts, and hours come from the report and from your project load and climate. Do not copy another buyer’s numbers into your accept criteria.
- Four reports do not replace a pilot build. The papers qualify the revision. The pilot shows your line can frame it.
- Insulation evidence does not write the site grounding plan. It gives the voltage result the electrical designer needs.
- A sourcing checklist and a failure-mode log stay in their own articles. This file is only the test pack.
If the folder has four covers and each cover names your drawing, you have a qualification file. If one cover names a different revision, you have a library of someone else’s tests. Ship the mass order on the first folder only.
Ask for the Four Reports on Your Drawing
Send the profile revision, design load, and whether the project is coastal. Weltrus will map mechanical, insulation, salt mist, and UV evidence to that GRPU frame before you release mass production.
Frequently Asked Questions
What reports belong in a GRPU frame test pack?
Ask for four reports tied to the drawing you will buy: mechanical load, insulation, salt mist, and UV. Each cover should name the method, the sample form, the result, the laboratory, the date, and the drawing revision.
Does an IEC 61215 module certificate replace GRPU frame tests?
No. IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 qualify the module bill of materials that was tested. A certificate on an aluminum-framed build does not describe a GRPU frame. Frame reports do not replace the module certificate when the frame is part of a module you will certify.
What must every frame test report show on the cover?
Drawing number and revision, compound or material code, sample form (profile, corner, or full module), method name, the numerical result with units, laboratory name, report number, and date. A brochure sentence without those fields is not a report.
Why is an insulation report on the frame list?
GRPU frames are specified as non-conductive. The insulation or dielectric report should name the voltage, the method, and whether the sample was the profile or a framed module. The electrical design use of that result belongs in the module safety file and the local code, not only on the frame datasheet.
When can procurement release a mass order?
Release the mass order when all four rows are filled for the current drawing revision, the sample in each report matches that revision, and the module retest decision is written if this frame changes an existing module certificate. A blank row holds the order.
