KR20180082258A - The System For Inspecting Solar Panel - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a solar panel inspecting system comprises: a map generating device which generates a current map of the entire solar power plant based on data for generating maps; a solar panel detecting device which detects all solar panels on the generated current map of the entire solar power plant; a flight path generating device which uses the detected solar panels to generate a precise flight path where an unmanned moving vehicle is to fly; and a defective panel inspecting device which, when the unmanned moving vehicle flies along the generated precise flight path and captures the solar panel to obtain data for inspection, uses the data for inspection and detects locations of defects generated in the solar panel. According to the present invention, an unmanned moving vehicle automatically generates a precise flight path for flying over a region where solar panels are installed, such that a user does not need to designate flight paths.

Description

The System For Inspecting Solar Panel

The present invention relates to a solar panel inspection system, and more particularly, to a solar panel inspection system in which an unmanned vehicle moves a flight path over a region where a solar panel is installed, based on an image obtained by photographing a solar panel And to provide a photovoltaic panel inspection system.

Recently, interest in photovoltaic power generation has increased rapidly as an eco-friendly energy source that replaces fossil energy such as petroleum and coal, and technology development is actively being carried out. Photovoltaic power generation uses solar cells, which convert received photovoltaic energy into electrical energy, to produce energy. Solar photovoltaic panels, in which multiple solar cells are arranged, It produces energy.

Generally, solar panels are installed in a very large area for a lot of energy production, or installed on a roof or roof of a building that is good for sunlight. However, since the solar panel is installed in the outdoors, it is directly exposed to the influence of the external environment. Therefore, the life span of the solar panel is shortened, which causes a sudden decrease in the amount of solar power generation or a fear of fire. Therefore, it is important to determine the state of the solar panel and quickly replace the solar panel in which the abnormality has occurred.

However, if the manager directly examines the abnormal operation or failure of the solar panel, he or she must travel around a large area, so that much effort and time are consumed. Or, it can be a very difficult and dangerous task if you get on the roof or roof of a building.

Recently, various technologies have been introduced for easy inspection of solar panels. One of them is a technique of flying an unmanned moving object over a region where a solar panel is installed, and analyzing images obtained by photographing a photovoltaic panel in the sky to be.

Conventionally, a photovoltaic panel inspection technique using an unmanned moving object has to newly generate a flight path every time a unmanned moving object is flying to inspect a solar panel. In recent years, a technique has been proposed in which an unmanned vehicle travels in accordance with a stored flight path after storing the flight path in advance. However, even in this case, the user had to set the flight path directly. In addition, there has been a problem in that when a flight path needs to be changed due to a new addition or removal of a solar panel installed in a solar power plant or the like, the user must directly set a flight path every time.

Japanese Patent No. 5319593 Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2013-36747

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a solar panel inspection system that automatically creates a flight path in which an unmanned vehicle moves over an area where a solar panel is installed, based on an image obtained by photographing a solar panel by an unmanned vehicle .

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a solar panel inspection system comprising: a map generator for generating a current map of a solar power plant based on map generation data; A solar panel detection device for detecting all of the solar panels on a current map of the entire solar power generation plant; A flight path generation device for generating a precise flight path through which the unmanned moving object will fly using the detected solar panels; And a defective panel for detecting the position of defects generated on the solar panel by using the inspection data when the unmanned moving object photographs the solar panel and acquires inspection data while flying along the generated precision flight path, Inspection apparatus.

Other specific details of the invention are included in the detailed description and drawings.

The embodiments of the present invention have at least the following effects.

The unmanned vehicle automatically creates a precise flight path over the area where the solar panel is installed, so that the user can not specify the flight path.

In addition, the precise flight path is automatically corrected using the GPS coordinate information before the unmanned vehicle moves, so that a precise accurate flight path can be secured.

Furthermore, all steps of detecting a defective panel by photographing a solar panel while the unmanned vehicle is flying along this precise flight path can be performed automatically. Therefore, the user may not detect the defective panel one by one.

The effects according to the present invention are not limited by the contents exemplified above, and more various effects are included in the specification.

1 is a configuration diagram of a solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a plan view showing the internal structure of a general solar panel 30. As shown in Fig.
3 is a sectional view of a general solar panel 30 before lamination.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of operating the solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the integrated control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the integrated control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a sense commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Also, commonly used predefined terms are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless explicitly defined otherwise.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating embodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. In the present specification, the singular form includes plural forms unless otherwise specified in the specification. The terms " comprises "and / or" comprising "used in the specification do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other elements in addition to the stated element.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram of a solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The use of the solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention allows the unmanned vehicle 20 to fly over the area where the solar panel 30 is installed once and inspect the defective panel have.

As shown in FIG. 1, the solar panel inspection system 1 includes a solar panel (panel) 30 for generating electricity by receiving sunlight, an unmanned moving vehicle (20), and an integrated controller (10) for controlling the manless vehicle (20) and inspecting the solar panel (30).

The unmanned moving body 20 can fly over an area where a plurality of solar panels 30 are installed and acquire an image of the solar panel 30 using the camera 22. [ Here, the unmanned vehicle 20 is preferably an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of capturing an image of the solar panel 30 in the sky, and a drone have. Hereinafter, the UAV 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described as being a drone.

The unmanned moving body 20 includes a camera 22 for photographing a specific area to acquire an image. The camera 22 captures an image of the solar panel 30 by photographing the solar panel 30 when the unmanned vehicle 20 is flying over the area where the solar panel 30 is installed. The camera 22 can be directed in any direction from the main body 21, but it is preferable that the camera 22 faces downward to easily photograph the solar panel 30 installed on the ground. The camera 22 may be installed inside the main body 21. In this case, the camera 22 may be provided with a lens or a transparent cover of the camera 22 so as to photograph the outside of the main body 21, As shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the camera 22 itself may be installed in various ways such as being exposed to the outside of the main body 21.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the camera 22 of the unmanned vehicle 20 is preferably a thermal imaging camera. The thermal imaging camera detects infrared rays emitted from the object, converts the energy amount into temperature, and converts the temperature distribution of the object into an image. An image showing this temperature distribution is called a thermal image. That is, the image data acquired by the thermal imaging camera includes thermal image data.

On the other hand, when a defect such as a defect or a crack occurs in a part of the solar panel 30 and a voltage is applied between the electrode layers of the solar panel 30, The electric field becomes unstable as compared with the surrounding region. Due to such an unstable electric field, more current flows between the electrode layers of the defect or cracked portion than in the peripheral region. And, the more current flows, the more heat is generated. In a thermal image, the higher the temperature, the higher the pixel value, and the lower the temperature, the lower the pixel value. Therefore, when the thermal imaging camera 22 captures the infrared light image by capturing the solar panel 30, the integrated controller 10 can detect the distribution of the heat through the pixel values, The test can be done. Here, the defective panel inspection is a process of inspecting the defective panel to determine whether or not defects have occurred in the panel, and to detect the defective panel if the defective panel occurs.

The integrated control apparatus 10 analyzes the image data acquired by the camera 22 of the manless vehicle 20 to determine whether or not a failure of the solar panel 30 has occurred and sets the defective position of the solar panel 30 to . The integrated control device 10 may be formed as a separate device from the manless mobile body 20 but may be included in the inside of the manless mobile body 20 as a component of the manless mobile body 20. [ That is, if the image data can be analyzed and the solar panel 30 can be inspected, the image data can be variously formed. A detailed description of the integrated control device 10 will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the internal structure of a general solar panel 30, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a general solar panel 30 before lamination.

First, the solar panel 30 as an inspection object to be inspected by the integrated control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in Fig. 2, a plurality of solar cells 38 are connected in series to a lead wire 39 to form a string 35. Fig. A plurality of strings 35 are connected to the lead wires 39 and are arranged in a line. By connecting the electrodes 36 and 37 to both ends thereof, the solar panel 30 is formed.

The solar panel 30 is manufactured as follows. As shown in Fig. 3, a filler 33 is disposed on the transparent cover glass 31, and a plurality of serially connected strings 35 shown in Fig. 2 are disposed thereon. Then, the filler 33 is placed thereon, and the back member 32 formed of an opaque material is disposed. As the filler 33, EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) resin can be used. After lamination as described above, heat and pressure are applied in a vacuum state by using a lamination apparatus, and the EVA resin is subjected to crosslinking reaction to perform lamination.

The solar panel 30 to be inspected by the integrated control apparatus 10 is not limited to the above-described solar panel 30 and may have various forms such as a single solar cell 38 . In addition, it can be inspected before and after the lamination process.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of operating the solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, in order to operate the solar panel inspection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the preparation stage and the inspection stage must be performed in two major steps .

In order for the unmanned moving body 20 to check whether a failure of the solar panel 30 has occurred, a precise flight path to which the unmanned vehicle 20 will fly must be set. The preparing step is a step for generating a precise flight path of the unmanned moving body 20, and is a step preceding the inspection of whether or not a failure of the solar panel 30 occurs. In the inspecting step, the unmanned moving body 20 photographs the photovoltaic panel 30, acquires an image, and examines the photovoltaic panel 30 while flying along the precise flight path generated in the preparation step.

In the preparation step, if the precise flight path of the unmanned vehicle 20 is once generated, it is not necessary to carry out the preparation step again. This is because, when inspecting the solar panel 30 at a later time, the unmanned moving body 20 must fly according to the generated precision flight path. However, it may happen that the precision flight path of the unmanned vehicle 20 needs to be changed. For example, a solar panel 30 installed in a solar power plant may be newly installed or removed. In this case, the preparatory step must be repeated to change the precision flight path. That is, the preparatory step is performed only once, except for the special case in which the precision flight path of the unmanned vehicle 20 needs to be changed.

However, the inspecting step may be performed periodically or at a time desired by the user by inspecting the solar panel 30 while the unmanned vehicle 20 is flying along the generated precise flight path.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, in the preparation step, a full coverage flight path is first created (S401). The global flight path refers to a rough flight path in which the unmanned vehicle 20 will fly in order to acquire current map data of the entire solar power plant.

To create a precise flight path, you must first obtain the current map data for the entire PV plant. Accordingly, in order to acquire the current map data of the entire solar power generation plant, the unmanned vehicle 20 must first fly roughly along the Full Coverage Flight Path.

There are many ways to create such a global flight path. For example, if a solar power plant is constructed for the first time, it has never created a flight path (global flight path or precision flight path) of the unmanned vehicle 20 until now. In this case, the integrated control apparatus 10 can receive initial map data of the entire photovoltaic power generation plant from the main server or from outside. Upon receipt of the initial map data of the entire power plant, the polygons expected from the solar panel 30 on the map are extracted, and a global flight path is automatically created to pass the center of the polygons. The method of extracting the polygon or the method of generating the path passing through the center of the polygon is not limited and various methods can be used.

However, if the precise flight path was previously generated, the unmanned vehicle 20 may have performed the inspection of the photovoltaic panel 30 through the inspection step. However, in some cases, a precise flight path may be newly generated due to the addition or removal of a solar panel 30 installed in a solar power plant. In this case, the previously created global or fine flight path may be used as the current global flight path. That is, if the unmanned vehicle 20 can roughly fly the entire photovoltaic power generation plant, the global flight path can be created in various ways.

When the global flight path is generated, the unmanned moving body 20 flows over the solar power plant along the global flight path (S402). Then, the map generation data is acquired (S403). The map generation data refers to data necessary for generating a current map of a solar power plant. The map generation data includes image data obtained by photographing the entire solar power generation plant by the camera 22, position data acquired by using GPS or IMU (inertial measurement unit), and the like.

When the map generation data is acquired, a current map of the entire solar power generation plant is generated based on the acquired map generation data (S404). A geographic information system (GIS) can be used to generate a current map of the entire solar power plant, and the current map of the generated solar power plant can have the form of a digital map.

Since the current map of the entire solar power generation site has a form of a digital map, all the solar panels 30 are found on the map through the image processing technology and the GPS coordinate information is stored (S405). The solar panel 30 thus found is indexed and displayed on the map, and the GPS coordinate information is stored in the metadata.

The precise flight path of the unmanned moving body 20 is generated using the GPS coordinate information of the found solar panels 30 (S406). As described above, the precision flight path refers to a flight path in which the unmanned moving body 20 travels over the solar power plant to photograph the solar panel 30 and acquire images at the inspection step. To acquire the image of the solar panel 30 in the inspection step, the image is analyzed to check whether the solar panel 30 is defective. Therefore, the precision flight path has less error than the global flight path and can fly over all of the current solar panel 30. [

After completing steps S401 to S406, the preparation step is completed. Then, a precise flight path is created. Thereafter, the inspection step for examining whether or not a failure of the solar panel 30 has occurred is entered.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the inspecting step, the GPS coordinate correction is performed first before the unmanned moving body 20 makes a flight (S407). GPS (Global Positioning System) is a satellite navigation system in which a GPS receiver receives a signal transmitted from a GPS satellite and calculates a current position using coordinates. That is, the GPS receiver receives GPS coordinates from GPS satellites in real time. In the preparation stage, there may be a time difference between the timing of generating the GPS digital map and the time of entering the inspection step. And the GPS satellites revolve around the earth during the time difference to change their position. Accordingly, GPS coordinates received at the respective times may be different from each other. In order to precisely grasp the position of the solar panel 30 and fly over the actual solar panel 30, it is necessary to first perform correction to eliminate the error of the GPS coordinates.

When the GPS coordinates are corrected, the unmanned moving body 20 flows over the solar power plant along the precise flight path generated in the preparation step (S408). Then, all of the present solar panels 30 are photographed using the camera 22, and the inspection data for the solar panel 30 is obtained (S409). The inspection data refers to data necessary for analyzing the image of the solar panel 30 and inspecting the defective panel. The inspection data includes image data acquired by photographing the solar panel 30 with the camera 22, position data acquired using a GPS or an IMU (inertial measurement unit), and the like.

When the inspection data for the solar panel 30 is obtained, the solar panel 30 is detected in the image data (S410). Then, the detected solar panel 30 is inspected to determine whether a defect has occurred, and a defective position of the defective panel is detected (S411). When the inspection of all the solar panels 30 is completed, a result report thereof is output to the user and reported (S412).

After the steps S407 to S412 are all performed, the inspection step is completed. And, all the steps of the inspection step can be done automatically.

5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the integrated control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The integrated control apparatus 10 controls the manless vehicle 20 and analyzes the image of the photovoltaic panel 30 acquired by the camera 22 of the manless vehicle 20 so as to control the operation of the solar panel 30 30 can be detected, and the defective position of the solar panel 30 can be detected.

The integrated control apparatus 10 includes a flight path generating apparatus 11, a map generating apparatus 12, a solar panel detecting apparatus 13 and a defective panel inspecting apparatus 14, as shown in FIG.

The flight path creation device 11 performs steps S401 and S405 in the preparation step. That is, the unmanned vehicle 20 generates a full coverage flight path and a precise flight path.

The map generating apparatus 12 performs the step S404 in the preparing step. That is, based on the acquired map generation data, a current map of the entire solar power generation plant, which is a digital map, is generated.

The photovoltaic panel detector 13 performs step S405 in the preparing step and step S410 in the inspecting step. That is, in the preparation step, all the solar panels 30 are found on the current map of the entire solar power plant and the GPS coordinates information is stored. Further, in the inspection step, the solar panel 30 is detected in the image based on the obtained inspection data.

The defective panel inspection apparatus 14 performs the step S411 in the inspection step. That is, whether the detected solar panel 30 is defective or not is checked, and if there is a defective panel, the defective position of the defective panel is detected.

The flight path generation device 11, the map generation device 12, the solar panel detection device 13 and the defective panel inspection device 14 included in the integrated control device 10 are formed as separate modules But may also be performing various functions within one module without limitation. That is, the integrated control device 10 can be formed in various ways as long as it can create a flight path, generate a map, detect the solar panel 30, and inspect the defective panel.

6 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the integrated control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The flight path generating device 11, the map generating device 12, the solar panel detecting device 13 and the defective panel inspecting device 14 included in the integrated control device 10 can perform various functions The integrated control apparatus 10 itself becomes an independent module to create a flight path, generate a map, detect the solar panel 30, and also inspect the defective panel.

To this end, the integrated control apparatus 10 includes a control section 101, a storage section 102, a screen section 103, and an input section 104. And these components can communicate with each other via the bus 105 to communicate with each other. All components included in the control unit 101 may be connected to the bus 105 via at least one interface or adapter or may be directly connected to the bus 105. [ The bus 105 may also be coupled to other subsystems other than those described above. The bus 105 includes a memory bus, a memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus.

The control unit 101 controls the overall operation of the integrated control apparatus 10. For example, a flight path is generated, a map is generated, a solar panel 30 is detected, and a bad panel is also inspected. The controller 101 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller unit (MCU), or a digital signal processor (DSP), but the present invention is not limited thereto. The control unit 101 will be described later in detail.

The storage unit 102 stores various object information, and a database is constructed by the control unit 101. The storage unit 102 includes a nonvolatile memory device and a volatile memory device. Preferably, the non-volatile memory device is a NAND flash memory which is small in volume and light and is resistant to external impact, and the volatile memory device is a DDR SDRAM.

Integrated control device 10 may also be coupled to network 40. Accordingly, the integrated control apparatus 10 can be connected to other devices via the network 40 to transmit and receive various data and signals including metadata. At this time, the network interface 41 receives communication data in the form of one or more packets from the network 40, and the integrated control apparatus 10 can store the received communication data for processing of the control unit 101 have. Similarly, the integrated control apparatus 10 stores the transmitted communication data in the form of one or more packets in the storage unit 102, and the network interface 41 can transmit the communication data to the network 40. [

The network interface 41 may include a network interface card, a modem, etc., and the network 40 may be any of a variety of wired and wireless communication methods such as the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network . ≪ / RTI >

The screen unit 103 displays a search result performed according to a search condition input by a user so that the user can view the search result. If the integrated control apparatus 10 does not provide a touch function, an input unit 104 is provided separately. In general, the most commonly used input unit 104 includes a mouse, a keyboard, a joystick, and a remote controller. The input unit 104 may be connected to the bus 105 through an input interface 1041 including a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, a USB, and the like. However, if the integrated control apparatus 10 provides a touch function, the screen unit 103 may include a touch sensor. In this case, the input unit 104 need not be provided separately, and the user can directly input the touch signal through the screen unit 103. [ The touch may be performed using a finger, but is not limited thereto, and may be performed using a stylus pen or the like equipped with a tip through which a minute current can flow. Even if the integrated control apparatus 10 provides a touch function, a separate touch pad may be provided as the input unit 104 if the screen unit 103 does not include a touch sensor.

The display unit 103 may be implemented by various methods such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic liquid crystal display (OLED), a cathode ray tube (CRT), and a plasma display panel (PDP). The screen unit 103 is connected to the bus 105 through the video interface 1031 and the data transfer between the screen unit 103 and the bus 105 can be controlled by the graphics controller 1032. [

Each component of the integrated control apparatus 10 described so far includes software such as a task, a class, a subroutine, a process, an object, an execution thread, a program executed in a predetermined area on a memory, a field- Gate Array) or ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), or may be a combination of the above software and hardware. The components may be included in a computer-readable storage medium, or a part of the components may be distributed to a plurality of computers.

In addition, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for executing the specified logical function (s). It is also possible that in some alternative implementations the functions mentioned in the blocks occur out of order. For example, it is possible that the two blocks shown in succession may actually be performed substantially concurrently, and that the blocks are sometimes performed in reverse order according to the corresponding function.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

1: Solar panel inspection system 10: Integrated control device
11: Flight path generating device 12: Map generating device
13: solar panel detection device 14: bad panel inspection device
20: Unmanned moving body 21:
22: camera 30: solar panel
31: cover glass 32: backing material
33, 34: Filler 35: String
36, 37: electrode 38: solar cell
39: lead wire 40: network
41: Network interface 101:
102: storage unit 103:
104: input unit 105: bus
301: Solar Module 302: Array
303: Bad part 304: First candidate
305: second candidate 306: window
307: center pixel 308: final candidate
1031: Video interface 1032: Graphics controller
1041: input interface

Claims (6)

A map generating device for generating a current map of the whole photovoltaic power generation plant based on the map generating data;
A solar panel detection device for detecting all of the solar panels on a current map of the entire solar power generation plant;
A flight path generating device for generating a precise flight path through which the unmanned moving object will fly using the detected solar panels; And
Wherein the inspection data is used to photograph the photovoltaic panel while the unmanned moving body is flying along the generated precise flight path to obtain the inspection data, A solar panel inspection system comprising a device. The method according to claim 1,
The solar panel detecting apparatus may further comprise:
And stores GPS coordinate information of all the detected solar panels. 3. The method of claim 2,
And performs GPS coordinate correction of the precise flight path using the stored GPS coordinate information before the unmanned moving body follows the generated precise flight path. The method according to claim 1,
The flight path generating device includes:
Receiving a first map data of the entire solar power plant from a server and generating a global flight path so as to pass the center of the polygons expected by the solar panel. 5. The method of claim 4,
The map generation data includes:
Wherein the unmanned moving object is obtained by photographing the solar panel while flying along the generated global flight path. The method according to claim 1,
The solar panel detecting apparatus may further comprise:
And detects all the solar panels in the obtained inspection data.

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