An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for detecting defects in a solar panel array (20, figure 2) using an UAV 10 comprising a pyranometer 12, a GPS receiver 13, a thermographic camera 14 and a data logger 16. The drone may also comprise a visual imaging camera 15. The drone is directed by mapping the location of the panels (22, figure 2) of the solar array, and then using the map data to generate a waypoint flight path (24, figure 2) for the UAV. Once the data is transmitted to the UAV, it flies the waypoint route recording using the sensing equipment 12, 13, 14, 15, and then the data is processed to detect defective panels, which are identified by temperature gradient, with cross-referenced solar irradiance data, thermographic and visual imagery and a GPS location. Also disclosed in an apparatus comprising such a UAV and one or more remote devices in communication with it.
UAVs for detecting defects in solar panel arrays
2019-09-18
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
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