DELTA – Drone Education

Lab for Thermal Applications

DELTA Solution Series Part 4:

Thermal Inspection of Solar Panels
One of the most popular uses for drone time. An often-overlooked value of thermal
thermography is solar panel inspection. As one solar inspections is to perform a detailed
of a drone’s biggest advantages is its ability inspection upon commissioning, both to
to cover large areas quickly, this makes a lot provide a baseline set of images and data from
of sense. A drone thermographer can image which to start a trend analysis program and to
hundreds of acres of solar fields in a fraction of catch faults that were caused by substandard
the time it would take to chase down anomalies installation, which may be covered under
the old-fashioned way. warranty.

This makes drone thermal inspections the new But did you know there’s an accepted standard
normal for periodic inspections of large solar to be used to guide these inspections? Read on!
fields, enabling precise trend analysis over

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 DELTA – Drone Education
Lab for Thermal Applications

DETAILS MATTER WITH SOLAR

IEC Technical Specification 62446-3 is a similar lines – a simplified inspection is looking

European standard many outside of Europe for energy patterns and hot/cold spots, while
use as a guide to make sure they’re providing a detailed inspection calls for temperature
consistent, high quality thermal drone measurements meeting certain resolution
inspections of photovoltaic (PV) sites. Its requirements. The detailed inspection also
recommendations cover the type of inspection requires a higher level of certification of the
to be performed, the conditions under which thermographer performing the inspection.
the inspections should be performed, the
In order to fly a detailed inspection, operators
equipment requirements, and personnel
must fly at an altitude that would produce a
training requirements. For the purpose of this
3-cm-per-pixel ground sample distance on the
DELTA Solution Series, we’ll just cover the first
panels. Given a six-inch square solar cell, this
two.
would provide a five-by-five-pixel square inside
There are two types of inspections detailed in of each cell from the correct flight altitude.
62446-3: simplified and detailed. Previously Again, harken back to earlier installments of this
discussed in the DELTA Solution Series, there series when we talked about the importance of
are also two types of thermal inspections: spot size ratio and the fact that thermal cameras
qualitative and quantitative. The former looks can’t reliably measure the energy from a single
for patterns and distributions of energy, while pixel due to lens and atmospheric impacts. This
the latter adds the demands of temperature is similarly reflected in the IEC specifications
measurements. The IEC specifications for the resolution requirements.
two types of inspections are divided along

Figure 1. Thermal cameras provide quick qualitative indication and location of potential issues

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Imagery for illustration purposes only.

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 DELTA – Drone Education
Lab for Thermal Applications

For flying detailed inspections, pilots must use dust on solar panels can materially change the
a camera that can perform adjustments for emissivity enough to render any “standard”
emissivity, reflected apparent temperature, and value meaningless.
atmospheric effects. In other words, these aren’t
Another thing that effects emissivity is the angle
apparent (or uncompensated) temperature
at which the target is viewed. This is especially
measurements; they are supposed to be true
important for drone pilots to consider because
temperature measurements where all the usual
we must adjust for sun reflections. To limit the
standards for emissivity measurement and
impact, do not significantly change viewing
measurement accuracy apply.
angle during a flight, and do not inspect the
This last part is a particularly relevant point, as panels at less than a 30-degree angle relative to
some have fallen into the trap of thinking there the panel as this will increase reflectivity.
is an industry standard for solar cell emissivity.
There isn’t. What’s more, emissivity is highly
impacted by surface finish. Even a fine coat of

Figure 2. Regions of interest provide high, low, and average temperatures

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Imagery for illustration purposes only.

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 DELTA – Drone Education
Lab for Thermal Applications

CONDITIONS? WHAT CONDITIONS?

The atmospheric conditions under which an Wind is also an important factor. Too much
inspection is completed is vital to the success of wind will cause convective cooling of the
a mission. Not surprisingly, there are guidelines panels, lessening the apparent severity of
for this in 62446-3 as well. faults, or even disguising them altogether.
The IEC specification calls for a maximum of
Table 1. Key Conditions for Solar Panel 28 kph (17 mph) of wind at the panels. This
Inspection. can be measured with a properly calibrated
anemometer.
Condition Specification
Min of 600 W/m2 or 30% Since solar irradiance is a key factor
Irradiance
of Max Rated Load determining the success or failure of an
inspection, it makes sense that cloud cover
Wind 29 kph or 17 mph
plays a roll, too. The IEC specification treats
Cloud Cover Max 2/8 of Sky cloud cover in the aviation standards of okta,
Clean Panels Before saying that clouds should obscure no more
Soiling
Inspection than 2/8 of the sky.

The first thing to consider is the irradiance Finally, the conditions of the panels themselves
the panels are subject to. This is a measured is addressed. Specifically, soiling. There should
value to be taken before starting an inspection be little to no visible soiling of the panels
to make sure the system is being exposed to because it will simultaneously alter the surface
enough solar radiation to expose small faults. emissivity of the panels themselves, but it can
The minimum irradiance called for is 600 Watts also cause heating in the panels because of the
per meter squared. It is also recommended that increased resistance. If possible, panels should
the overall system be under at least 30 percent be cleaned before being inspected.
of its maximum rated load, though this would
have to be verified with the operator in many
cases, so irradiance is the most common value
documented.

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Imagery for illustration purposes only.

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 DELTA – Drone Education
Lab for Thermal Applications

PERFORMING CONSISTENT
INSPECTIONS EVERY TIME

Using the IEC technical standard as a guide

will allow operators to perform consistent
inspections over a long period of time, providing
customers with consistent data over the life of
the program.

To learn more, please visit

www.flir.com/delta.

Figure 3. FLIR Vue TZ20-R provides unmatched

thermal zoom and image clarity

About Teledyne FLIR

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