{"id":439,"date":"2021-09-30T08:15:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T08:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pscsolaruk.com\/blog\/?p=439"},"modified":"2021-09-30T08:15:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T08:15:03","slug":"new-imaging-system-reveals-solar-panel-defects-even-in-bright-sunlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pscsolaruk.com\/blog\/new-imaging-system-reveals-solar-panel-defects-even-in-bright-sunlight\/","title":{"rendered":"New imaging system reveals solar panel defects even in bright sunlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NewThe researchers used an InGaAs detector with a very high frame rate to acquire a sequence of images of solar<\/a> panels as a modulated electric current was applied. The very fast imaging speed available from this detector allowed more changes between the images in the sequence to be distinguished. Credit: Yunsheng Qian, Nanjing University of Science and Technology<\/p>

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Researchers have developed and demonstrated a new system that can detect defects in silicon solar panels in full and partial sunlight under any weather conditions. Because current defect detection methods cannot be used in daylight conditions, the new system could make it much easier to keep solar panels working optimally.<\/p>\n

Silicon\u00a0solar panels<\/a>, which make up around 90 percent of the world’s solar panels, often have defects that occur during their manufacturing, handling or installation. These defects can greatly lower the efficiency of the solar panels, so it is important that they be detected quickly and easily.<\/p>

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In the Optica Publishing Group journal\u00a0Applied Optics<\/i>, researchers from Nanjing University of Science and Technology in China describe how a unique combination of new hardware and software allows defects in solar panels to be clearly imaged and analyzed even in bright light.<\/p>\n

“Today’s\u00a0defect<\/a>\u00a0detection systems can only be used to find defects at night or on solar panel modules that have been removed and moved inside or into a shaded environment,” said Yunsheng Qian, who led the research team. “We hope that this system can be used to help inspectors at photovoltaic power stations locate defects and identify them more quickly, so that these systems can produce electricity at their maximum levels.”<\/p>

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Seeing through the light<\/b><\/p>\n

In the new work, the researchers created an all-weather imaging system that works in any\u00a0lighting conditions<\/a>. To make defects visible, they developed software that applies a modulated electric current to a solar panel, which causes it to emit light that turns off and on very quickly. An InGaAs detector with a very high frame rate is used to acquire a sequence of images of the solar panels as the electric current is applied. The researchers also added a filter that limits the wavelengths detected to those around 1150 nm to remove some of the stray sunlight from the images.<\/p>

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