Drones are becoming an increasing part of people’s lives, both for leisure and commercial purposes. Aerial cinematography is widely used in all manner of TV and film productions and the power of aerial photography for inspection purposes is being leveraged in many industry areas. The field of drone thermal imaging is probably less well known but that doesn’t mean that it has any less benefit to offer.
One area where thermal imaging can be put to good use is in carrying out inspections on solar panels. Photo voltaic surveys are carried out during the summer months when panels are at their maximum operating capacity and can be used to identify defective cells and converter boxes.
Whether this fault finding capability is applied to domestic solar panel installations or to commercial solar farms, drones offer a fast effective method of fault diagnosis. The UAV’s ability to cover large areas fast and reach inaccessible places like roofs in a simple flight or series of flights means that inspection is fast, non-invasive and so can be achieved at a lower cost than using traditional methods. Targeted repair teams can then be deployed to exactly the points where they are needed – time and cost savings on skilled labour.
