BMW
BMW: radiometric thermography of solar panels by drone
For BMW we inspected the solar panel field at its San Luis Potosí plant with a radiometric thermal camera: every image stores the temperature of each pixel, so panels can be compared and the ones running hotter can be found.
- Where
- San Luis Potosí, Mexico
- When
- January 2021
- Service
- Thermal inspection
- Industry
- Energy and infrastructure
- 2,360
- thermal and visual images
- 3
- flights over the solar field
- XT2
- DJI Zenmuse thermal and visual camera
The challenge
In a solar field, a damaged or dirty panel, or one with a faulty cell, runs hotter than the rest and produces less. To the eye they all look the same, and checking them one by one on foot takes days.
What we did
We flew the rows with a drone carrying a DJI Zenmuse XT2, which captures the radiometric thermal image and the visual photo at the same time. The thermal image records the real temperature of every pixel, not just colors, and the visual photo locates each panel.
The result
A thermal study of the field, with thermal and visual images of every section and measurable temperature on each panel, to compare rows and decide what to check on site.
