An Approach to the Cell-Level Diagnosis of Malfunctioning Events in PV Panels from Aerial Thermal Maps

This chapter presents an innovative approach to the cell-level diagnosis of malfunctioning events in photovoltaic (PV) panels from the processing of temperature maps taken from low-flying drones. The application of a detailed power balance equation allows deriving the electrical power generated or dissipated by each cell with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The method is tested by emulating the experimental temperature maps through accurate 3-D thermal simulations of the panel for some cases of interest.