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

Abstract

With the enhanced industrial and domestic energy needs, there is a great urge for renewable energy sources because of their eco-friendly nature. Solar energy is crucial among renewable energy sources and there is a great need to optimize and enhance the performance of solar energy usage that is mainly dependent on the system components. The current work has been aimed to discuss the fault detection of photovoltaic (PV) modules by evaluating an efficient, facile inspection algorithm electrical analysis for real-time applications. The paper presents a real-time experimental model for infrared thermography using a thermal imager mounted on a tripod at a suitable distance from the PV modules to capture the images in the best possible way. A novel hybrid algorithm has been proposed and the fault detection along with the electrical parameter analysis has been accurately performed on the PV modules to analyze and process various externally induced faults in the PV systems.