Identifying Damage Types in Solar Panels Through Surface Image Analysis with Naive Bayes

The growing utilization of solar panels as a renewable energy source requires efficient maintenance solutions to guarantee their best functioning. Identifying and categorizing faults on solar panel surfaces is essential for maintenance, as these defects considerably affect energy output and system efficiency. This study investigates the utilization of statistical feature extraction methods alongside Bernoulli Naive Bayes (BNB) and Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB) algorithms to categorize different defect types, such as cracks, scratches, spots, and non-defective surfaces, through digital image analysis. Statistical criteria, including recall, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC), are employed to assess model performance. The findings indicate that the GNB algorithm surpasses BNB, with a mean average precision (mAP) of 39.83% with an 85:15 training-test ratio, whereas BNB reaches a maximum mAP of 29.25% at a 90:10 ratio. Nonetheless, both models demonstrate constraints in precision, as indicated by a total AUC of 0.644. This work illustrates the potential of statistical feature extraction approaches for defect classification, while emphasizing the necessity for future improvements to boost the efficacy of feature extraction and classification techniques in practical applications