Photovoltaic modules diagnosis using artificial vision techniques for artifact minimization

Oswaldo Menéndez, Robert Guamán, Marcelo Pérez, Fernando Auat Cheein*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The installed capacity of solar photovoltaics has increased over the past two decades worldwide, evolving from a few small scale applications to a daily power source. Such growth involves a great impact over operating processes and maintenance practices. The RGB (red, green and blue) and infra-red monitoring of photovoltaic modules is a non-invasive inspection method which provides information of possible failures, by relating thermal behaviour of the modules to the operational status of solar panels. An adequate thermal measurement module strongly depends on the proper camera angle selection relative to panel's surface, since reflections and external radiation sources are common causes of misleading results with the unnecessary maintenance work. In this work, we test a portable ground-based system capable of detecting and classifying hot-spots related to photovoltaic module failures. The system characterizes in 3D thermal information from the panels structure to detect and classify hot-spots. Unlike traditional systems, our proposal detects false hot-spots associated with people or device reflections, and from external radiation sources. Experimental results show that the proposed diagnostic approach can provide of an adequate thermal monitoring of photovoltaic modules and improve existing methods in 12% of effectiveness, with the corresponding financial impact.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1688
JournalEnergies
Volume11
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Hot-spot detection
  • Image processing
  • Infrared imaging
  • Inspection
  • Solar panels

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Energy (miscellaneous)
  • Control and Optimization
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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