Regular Solar Panel Inspections guarantee the identification of potential defects that can be found early and repaired.
Why Do We Need Maintenance of Solar Panels?
With the rapidly growing demand for Renewable Energy, Solar Energy has established its energy applications in domestic and industrial fields. Solar panels play a crucial role in converting solar energy to consumable electric energy. Maintenance is an integral part of the efficient operation and organized working of solar panels. The first aspect of maintenance involves regular inspection of solar panels, to assess the surface to be free of any irregularities. These irregularities can be cell defects, dirt over the surface, failure of connections, or deterioration of solar cells which will compromise their efficiency and performance. It is important to assure the quality of solar panels for power generation and to maintain their long life. Regular inspections guarantee the identification of potential defects that can be found early and repaired.
Shortcomings of Conventional Inspection
The manual inspection of Solar Panels is a labor-intensive, and time-consuming process. For an industrial solar energy farm, a manual inspection would be an extensive task. For domestic rooftop panels, space limitations would restrict one to gather close-up data. Inspecting panels at different inclinations would intensify chances of reflection which would impede the detection of surface irregularities.
With the advancement in technologies and ambition to assist multiple emerging industries, drone surveys are finding their applications in solar inspection methods. The best way to inspect solar panels would be from above with an aerial view. Aerial mapping and drone surveying of solar power plants can help one retrieve the required information for the maintenance of solar panels. Drone surveys can incorporate aerial thermal mapping and infrared imaging.
Aerial Thermal Inspection – Next Level Solar Inspection
Drones surveying is a modern inspection technique that solves the problems of close inspection, time-consuming hours of manual inspection, and provides excellent output data. Different cameras are used for detecting surface irregularity.
The thermal camera offers detection of temperature difference where conduction of heat from solar radiation can be observed while the visible light (RGB) camera offers detections of technical pitfalls on solar panels.
Both types of solutions offered by these cameras serve a different purpose that helps run the optimal functioning of solar cells. These cameras mounted on drones can fly over planned paths spanning over a range of farmland, capturing thermal images and geospatial data. The hectares of solar panel farms can be covered with the help of drones within a day.