Fire resistant PV shingle assembly

A fire resistant photovoltaic (PV) shingle assembly for mounting to a support surface comprising:

• a PV assembly comprising:
• a PV body having an upper PV surface, a lower PV surface, an upper PV edge, a lower PV edge and side PV edges, the upper and lower PV surfaces defining upper and lower PV body planes;
• a fire shield comprising a sheet of material having fire shield edges, an upper fire shield surface and a lower fire shield surface, the sheet of material being a non-flammable material that can structurally support a burning block of wood measuring 30.5 cm×30.5 cm×5.7 cm and weighing 2500 g+/−50 g, the block of wood burning at a temperature of 537° C.-815° C.;
• a connection member securing the PV body and the fire shield to one another;
• the connection member comprising edge elements extending along the side PV edges and the side fire shield edges;
• the edge elements comprising grooves for slidably receiving the side PV edges;
• the connection member comprising a front piece removably coupled to at least one of the fire shield and the edge elements so that at least one of the PV body planes intersects the front piece to help retain the PV body between the edge elements when the front piece is secured to the edge elements, the PV body being removable from between the edge elements when the front piece is decoupled from said at least one of the fire shield and the edge elements;
• the fire shield spaced from and located below the lower PV surface so that the fire shield is spaced apart from the lower PV surface and defines an open region therebetween;
• the fire shield comprising vent entrance and vent exit openings toward the upper and lower PV edges respectively;
• a ventilation path extending from the lower PV edge, through the vent entrance, through the open region, out of the vent exit and past the upper PV edge;
• a rain guard extending downwardly from the fire shield;
• and
• the ratio of the area of the upper fire shield surface to the area of the lower PV surface being at least 0.7 to 1.0;
• and
• a support and inter-engagement assembly, mounted to the PV assembly, comprising:
• a vertical support element supporting the PV assembly above a support surface;
• an upper interlock element positioned towards the upper PV edge;
• a lower interlock element positioned towards the lower PV edge, whereby the upper interlock element of one PV shingle assembly is inter-engageable with the lower interlock element of an adjacent PV shingle assembly;
• and
• a chosen one of the upper and lower interlock elements comprising a tab having a tab width, and the other of the upper and lower interlock elements comprising a slot having a slot width, the slot width being oversized by a chosen distance relative to the tab width to permit lateral adjustment of one shingle assembly relative to an adjacent shingle assembly, the chosen distance being at least about 20% of the length of the lower PV edge.