About infrared scanning of photovoltaic solar plant

Abstract

The paper is discussing about infrared scanning of PV solar plants. It is important that the performance of each solar panel and cell is verified. One new possibility compared to traditional ground-based scanning (handheld camera) is the utilization of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). In this paper results from a PV solar Plant in Western Greece are introduced. The nominal power of the solar plants were 0, 9 MW and 2 MW and they were scanned both by a groundcontrolled drone and by handheld equipment. It is essential to know all the factors effecting to results and also the time of scanning is important. The results done from the drone and from ground-based scanning are compared; also results from various altitudes and time of day are discussed.The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/RPAS (Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems) will give an excellent opportunity to monitor various targets which are impossible or difficult to access from the ground. Compared to fixed-wing and helicopter-based platforms it will give advantages but also this technology has limitations. One limitation is the weight of the equipment and the short operational range and short flight time. Also valid procedures must be created for different solutions in the future. The most important thing, as in all infrared thermography applications, is the proper interpretation of results.

Infrared imaging of photovoltaic modules: a review of the state of the art and future challenges facing gigawatt photovoltaic power stations

“…There are several approaches to correlate the module temperature with the module power [126] and degradation [67,127]. Vergura and Marino [128] classifies the efficiencies by a framework analyzing the cells and clusters of cells: ∆T ≈ 10 K provokes 4% efficiency reduction, ∆T ≈ 18 K causes 7%-10% efficiency decrease.…”

An efficient optical inspection of photovoltaic modules deploying edge detectors and ancillary techniques

“…The following Table 2, evaluates the comparison of thermal imaging for PV panel inspections. [26] MicroCAM 640 by Thermoteknix Systems Ltd Quater et al [27] MicroCAM 640 by Thermoteknix Systems Ltd Kauppinen et al [28] FLIR Tau2 Muntwyler et al [29] Optris PI Lightweight PI 400 Aghaei et al [30] Flir A35 Addabbo et al [31] FlirVue Pro and Flir TAU2…”

Detection, classification and characterization of defects in photovoltaic modules through the use of thermography, electroluminescence, I-V curves and visual analysis

“…Several researchers have shown its real feasibility for detection of faults in PV modules [42,43,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] and, in relation to this issue, time reduction with regard to manual thermographic inspections, with an approximate inspection time of 5-8 minutes for a 1,000 kWp site using UAVs [45]. There is an intense research effort to automate data capture and post-processing steps in aerial IRT, which suggests a trend towards a fully automatic system [60][61][62].…”