Health diagnostics of PV panels by means of single cell analysis of thermographic images

This paper proposes an automated diagnostic procedure able to detect and classify malfunctioning leading to the overheating of cells embedded in solar panels. The analysis of the temperature gradients over defective cells allows to distinguish hot spots caused by shadowing from overheating caused by cell defects. Such nonintrusive approach provides an accurate and inexpensive diagnostic tool, thus reducing operation and maintenance costs and enhancing the energy yield of PV plants.