Photovoltaic Modules Diagnosis Using Artificial Vision Techniques for Artifact Minimization

Oswaldo Menéndez, Robert Guamán, Marcelo Pérez and Fernando Auat Cheein
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Oswaldo Menéndez: Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Robert Guamán: Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Marcelo Pérez: Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Fernando Auat Cheein: Department of Electronic Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-23

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.

Keywords: infrared imaging; solar panels; hot-spot detection; image processing; inspection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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