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

The fact that solar panels “appear to be fine” 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 to no longer rely entirely 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 reduce light absorption efficiency, leading to decreased power generation; over time, these issues may even accelerate component aging and shorten equipment service life.

For large-scale photovoltaic arrays, relying on manual inspections is not only inefficient but also makes it difficult to promptly detect localized anomalies. Using SingTown’s OpenMV intelligent cameras enables long-term, stable visual monitoring of photovoltaic panel operational status, achieving automatic identification and timely handling of foreign object issues.

The camera can be securely mounted on a support structure to cover multiple photovoltaic module areas and continuously capture images of the photovoltaic panel surfaces. OpenMV performs edge-side processing by using a region segmentation algorithm to delineate the effective operating areas of the photovoltaic panels, and automatically detects anomalies such as abnormal dust accumulation, leaf obstruction, or localized contamination through foreign object feature recognition and status comparison analysis.

By comparing the current image with the normal state, the system identifies abnormal areas affecting power generation efficiency and outputs the detection results. These results can directly trigger cleaning equipment, operation and maintenance systems, or alarm modules at the edge side, enabling immediate action 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 particularly suitable for long-term deployment in large-scale, distributed photovoltaic scenarios.