Development of Solar-Panel Monitoring Method Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Thermal Infrared Sensor

Interest in solar energy, which is clean energy, is growing due to continuously high oil prices because of the unstable situation in the Middle East and the explosion of the Fukushima nuclear-power plant in Japan. South Korea has made various efforts to develop renewable energy, and facilities using solar energy are rapidly growing. Periodic inspection of solar panels is very important for the effective management of photovoltaic (PV) modules. In this study, a method to monitor and diagnose faulty solar modules through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based thermal infrared camera and GIS spatial analysis is discussed. First, the image of the PV module was taken by installing an RGB camera and thermal infrared camera on the rotor blade of the UAV. The images were generated by using Pix4D SW, and the normal operation of the PV module was diagnosed using the orthoimage. In particular, thermal infrared cameras are very sensitive to reaction speed, unlike optical sensors, so it is very important to find appropriate monitoring methods, such as shooting speed. Therefore, we suggest a way to utilize an optical sensor and thermal infrared sensor together through various attempts. In the images, GIS spatial analysis was used to extract abnormal heat or faulty modules. Using the Virtual Reference Service (VRS) survey method, UAV images could be 3D-mapped with a very precise temperature, within 2 cm in x, y, and z direction errors. The rapid development of PV powergeneration facilities and of monitoring technologies is a very important factor for improving energy efficiency. The result of this study is providing a stable solar-panel-monitoring technology by comparing features of ground observation and UAV-based thermal infrared sensor observation. The developed monitoring technology was able to accurately analyze the failure point and temperature of the PV module.