Passive and Active Thermographic Assessment as a Tool for Condition-Based Performance Monitoring of Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

Today, to ensure efficient operation of a photovoltaic (PV) system renders as an undoubtedly major concern. Toward this direction, scope of this work is the assessment of infrared thermography as a PV module’s condition monitoring and, subsequently, performance evaluation method. The idea is based on the fact that any abnormality to the temperature pattern of an under inspection equipment implies a dysfunction case. In particular, specific thermographic measurements were applied to a PV module with known, abnormally low performance. Following the basic processing of the acquired thermal images, the extracted temperature data were contrasted with the PV module’s expected operating temperature. The results validated the presence of a problematic solar cell that refers to a “hot spot” within the tested PV module. This paper concludes with a discussion regarding the advantages, the limitations, and, ultimately, the potentiality of the intended approaches as reliable condition monitoring method through performance evaluation of PV modules.