Case study Solar Panel

Case study Solar Panel

Thermal Scanning is able to detect faults with photovoltaic solar systems that can’t be picked up by the naked eye.  During adverse weather events such as hail or large winds, solar panels can become damaged causing damage to either individual solar cells, strings of cells or entire panels. Thermal Scanners were contracted to find faults on a small residential solar system as previous tradespeople had been unable to determine which panels were the problem.  When on site multiple panels had been marked due to minor cracking from the hail, these are shown by the coloured circles in the thermal images below.

Solar Panels Without Faults

These thermograms show that during scanning there were no thermal faults detected on either of these panels even though a previous tradesperson had recommended replacement of both of these.  Problems appear on solar panels as either individual cells or a string of cells showing abnormal temperature compared to the rest.

Faulted Solar Panel

The above image shows where a fault was identified on the residential solar system with an elevated temperature on a single cell.  In total Thermal Scanners identified two panels that had thermal faults whilst the tradesperson identified 8 – 10 panels.  This allowed the client to replace only the fault panels and have there solar system working at peak performance with the lowest cost to fix.

If you require scanning of your solar panels then please contact us for a no obligation quote today