Partial Shading Fault Analysis Based On Thermal Imaging For Solar PV Array

Research in field of solar energy has rapidly advances since its significant contribution to clean renewable energy technology. But the frequent occurrence and prolonged operation of panels under partial shading conditions (PSC) may lead to a reduction in power output and hot-spot formation on the panels. Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) systems health monitoring can be depicted through these characteristics which shows the variations in the electrical parameters of the panels. While PSC exhibits complex P-V curve with multiple peaks and maximum power point (MPP) become harder to recognize, potentially leading to power loss and hotspot issues in their current-voltage (I-V) and power-voltage (P-V) characteristics due to partial shading at the panel or string level. Early detection and exact identification of these shaded panels can significantly reduce power losses and prevent hot spots. Thus, in this article partial shading fault is analyzed based on thermal imaging, their impacts on the electrical parameters of the panel under different cases through 4x2 PV array system simulated by using MATLAB/Simulink. Furthermore, a hardware setup is proposed to analyzed real-time monitoring of the parameters under PSC.