13 March 2021 Design and development of outdoor daylight ultraviolet fluorescence imaging setup: an inexpensive tool to detect degradation of photovoltaic modules
Sumaira Ilyas, Muhammad Noman, Fazle Samad, Bushra Mahnoor, Sai Tatapudi, Fahad U. Zafar, Govindasamy Tamizhmani
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Ultraviolet fluorescence (UVF) imaging is a widely used technique to analyze encapsulant discoloration, which is one of the prominent degradation modes in photovoltaic (PV) modules. Conventionally, UVF is done during nighttime or in a dark room, but performing UVF imaging during nighttime causes several inconveniences including safety due to snakes and other animals and inconvenient scheduling issues for the plant owners. Similarly, performing UVF imaging indoors requires dismounting the modules from the racks and moving them to the laboratory, which are labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks and could damage the module or may cause the energy loss due to partial/complete plant/array shutdown. Moreover, the manufacturer/installer warranty may be voided if the modules are removed from the racks. An outdoor UVF setup that can be used during the daylight can be a better alternative to the indoor or nighttime setup, provided it ensures there is no leakage of ambient light into the covered testing structure. We propose a unique, portable, and user-friendly outdoor UVF setup design that can tackle the issue of the ambient light leaking in, give uniform UV light, and provide enough room to accommodate the UV light source and camera to capture module images. We also classify the encapsulant discoloration into three classes depending on the discoloration intensity level. Furthermore, using the image processing technique, the percentage of browning was calculated in each cell/module.

© 2021 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 1947-7988/2021/$28.00 © 2021 SPIE
Sumaira Ilyas, Muhammad Noman, Fazle Samad, Bushra Mahnoor, Sai Tatapudi, Fahad U. Zafar, and Govindasamy Tamizhmani "Design and development of outdoor daylight ultraviolet fluorescence imaging setup: an inexpensive tool to detect degradation of photovoltaic modules," Journal of Photonics for Energy 11(2), 025501 (13 March 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.11.025501
Received: 19 October 2020; Accepted: 2 March 2021; Published: 13 March 2021
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KEYWORDS
Ultraviolet radiation

Luminescence

Solar cells

Light sources

Cameras

Visible radiation

Light

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