PV fault detection through IR thermography: using EMPHASIS under uneven environmental conditions

In this paper, the application of an Efficient Method for PHotovoltaic Arrays Study through Infrared Scanning (EMPHASIS) to a realistic scenario is introduced and discussed. EMPHASIS enables diagnosis and power assessment of any PV panel and allows detecting malfunctioning events without the need for interrupting the PV plant energy production. The input of the method consists in IR thermal maps, while its output is the cell-level distribution of generated/dissipated power. In order to test EMPHASIS in practical circumstances, the maps to be processed are numerically simulated under uneven wind conditions leading to a nonuniform temperature distribution over the panel. It is found that EMPHASIS is suited to provide a fairly good accuracy also in this complex case.