Dust, fallen leaves, or obstructions on photovoltaic panels are automatically identified as hazards by OpenMV.

The photovoltaic panel “appears to be fine,” but this does not necessarily indicate normal power generation efficiency. Local shading and dust accumulation often persist for extended periods yet remain difficult to detect. OpenMV enables photovoltaic operation and maintenance without full reliance on manual inspections.

During the operation of photovoltaic power plants, foreign substances such as dust accumulation, fallen leaves, and bird droppings on the surface of photovoltaic panels directly affect light absorption efficiency, resulting in reduced power generation; over the long term, they may even accelerate component aging and shorten equipment service life.

For large-scale photovoltaic arrays, manual inspection is not only inefficient but also unable to promptly detect localized anomalies. Based on SingTown’s OpenMV intelligent camera, long-term and stable visual monitoring of photovoltaic panel operating status can be achieved, enabling automatic identification and timely handling of foreign object issues.

The camera can be fixedly installed on a support structure to cover multiple photovoltaic module areas and continuously capture images of the photovoltaic panel surfaces. OpenMV performs region segmentation on-device to identify the effective operating areas of the photovoltaic panels and automatically detects abnormal dust accumulation, leaf obstruction, or localized contamination by combining foreign-object feature recognition with status comparison analysis.

By comparing the current image with the normal state, the system identifies abnormal areas affecting power generation efficiency and outputs the identification results. These results can directly trigger cleaning equipment, operation and maintenance systems, or alarm modules on the device side, enabling immediate handling upon detection without uploading large volumes of image data to the cloud.

Leveraging OpenMV’s edge computing capabilities and low-power design this solution is especially suitable for long-term deployment in large-scale distributed photovoltaic scenarios.