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Aerial Thermography

Aerial thermography is no longer the exception but the rule in solar power plants. In solar power plants, aerial thermography analysis of PV panels is performed annually or periodically by working with a professional team with appropriate expertise.

In solar power plants, there may be production errors or mistakes in standard operation and maintenance inspections, preventive maintenance and newly commissioned sites due to installation. To ensure that your aerial thermography inspections of the panels are inspected and analyzed by teams and software that follow proven industry standards, you need to have your solar power plants air thermographed.

Aerial Thermal Imaging and Inspection with MapperX

MapperX, our software product for capturing unique thermal images at SPP (Solar Power Plants) sites, specializes in advanced aerial thermal imagery and thermographic mapping. It provides customer-oriented thermal mapping and reporting software solutions that can be used to meet the specific thermographic inspection needs of solar power plants.

Benefits of Using Thermal Drones for Solar Power Plants

Solar power plant thermal inspections with a thermal drone are easier, faster and more efficient than traditional methods completed with handheld thermal devices. Drones inspect large PV systems faster and collect important data through high-resolution thermal cameras that meet world standards by detecting heat variations.

Solar Thermal Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Thermographic inspection of solar power plants using conventional methods consists of inspecting each panel with handheld thermal cameras to check for defective cells or cables. During this process, personnel have to manually track the locations of anomalies for later maintenance.

Due to the size of most solar power plants, this inspection method is inefficient, time-consuming and results in imprecise data.
The integration of drone technology in solar power plants completely improves the efficiency and accuracy of the thermal inspection process, transforming your sites into digital sites. Thermal drones can scan large areas within a solar power plant with cm (centimeter) accuracy by collecting high-resolution infrared images during a single flight.

The capacity to cover large distances with a drone and provide high-resolution aerial thermal images allows many companies to optimize their efficiency while completing dangerous or time-consuming PV panel inspections and site maintenance. By minimizing human error, it transforms your sites into digital sites in terms of digitalization with drone technology.

With the DJI Mavic 3T Thermal Drone, artificial intelligence-based decision-making algorithms, 360° sensors and the compact and low-cost of the device, which is the latest product of technology, are among the alternative devices that can be used in this field.

Advantages of Using Drones for Thermal Inspection of Solar Power Plants

  • 99% accuracy in identifying anomalies in solar power plants
  • Saving up to 99% of inspection time in solar power plants
  • High savings in inspection costs in solar power plants

The early detection of defective panels in a solar power plant makes a significant contribution in large power plants to prevent high performance and efficiency losses.
The faster and more accurately a PV inspection team can identify potential defects, the faster they can respond and prevent system failures at large SPP sites. Effectively conducted inspections and maintenance means that investors’ interests are protected and PV panels are “operating at peak efficiency”. This minimizes carbon emissions.

Detailed Reporting with MapperX

With the use of thermal and RGB visual images and data from PV panels to detect all anomalies, MapperX solar software evaluates all possibilities and generates world-class reports.

MapperX Software

  • Converts solar power plant sites into digital sites accessible from the web.
  • Collects thermal information about the solar power plant site and solar panels.
  • Detects malfunctions in solar power plants with 99% accuracy thanks to artificial intelligence software.
  • Remotely detects, locates and visualizes the obstacles that reduce the performance of the plant in order of importance.
  • Provides key points on the causes of low performance in the fields and suggestions for improving performance.

Air Thermography Inspection Period

One of the main reasons for using drones for solar panel inspections is the low maintenance costs. Typically, large solar power plants are inspected by a ground crew that manually inspects each panel. This can take days or even weeks, depending on the size of the plant. It is a process that significantly increases costs and takes many hours. Thermal drone inspections of solar power plants reduce inspection time by up to 99%. By having an infrared drone inspection of your PV systems, you can significantly reduce the cost and learn about faulty panels that are not working and save a lot of time and cost.

Aerial thermographic inspections provide more accurate data, detecting 100% of faults and fault type with 99% accuracy.

MapperX also effortlessly locates anomalies with detailed maps of the solar power plant. Thermal PV Review you can review our article.