Li-Ion device categories
A lithium-ion battery is a combination of base elements arranged in series and/or parallel (XSYP). Batteries fall into a category based on their geometric shape.
There are 4 Category levels.
Category level #1: cells
Cylindrical cells, pouch cells and prismatic cells fall into this first level. They are simple cells (1S1P).
| Main category | Cells | Cells | Cells |
| Category level | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Category | Cylindrical cell | Pouch cell | Prismatic cell |
| Base element | Cell | Cell | Cell |
 |  |  |
Category level #2: modules
Battery modules and rack-mount modules represent the second level. They are assembled from cells arranged in series and/or parallel (XSYP). A rack-mount module is a battery module specially designed to be racked to save space (PVsyst treats these two categories equally in simulations). The base element is the cell.
| Main category | Modules | Modules |
| Category level | 2 | 2 |
| Category | Battery module | Rack mount module |
| Base element | Cell | Cell |
 |  |
Category level #3: cabinets and racks
Battery modules and rack-mount modules can be further combined in series and/or parallel to create higher voltage and/or higher capacity packages. These packages fall into either the cabinet category—when a battery module is the base element—or the rack category—when a rack-mount module is the base element (PVsyst treats these categories equally). The base element is either the battery module or the rack-mount module.
| Main category | Cabinets & Racks | Cabinets & Racks |
| Category level | 3 | 3 |
| Category | Cabinet | Rack |
| Base element | Battery module | Rack mount module |
 |  |
Category level #4: the container
Similarly, cabinets and racks can be further combined in series and/or parallel and then placed into a container. The base element is either the cabinet or the rack.
Containers are not considered as "components" in the PVsyst database: they will be specified as a number of racks in series/parallel in the framework of the system definition.
| Main category | Container | Container |
| Category level | 4 | 4 |
| Category | Container | Container |
| Base element | Cabinet | Rack |
 | |