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

The photovoltaic panel “appearing fine” does not necessarily indicate normal power generation efficiency. Localized 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 reduce light absorption efficiency, resulting in decreased power generation; over time, these issues 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. Leveraging SingTown’s OpenMV intelligent camera, long-term and stable visual monitoring of photovoltaic panel operations can be achieved, enabling automatic identification and timely resolution 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, in combination with foreign object feature recognition and status comparison analysis, automatically determines whether abnormal dust accumulation, leaf obstruction, or localized contamination is present.

By comparing the current image with a 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 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 especially suitable for long-term deployment in large-scale, distributed photovoltaic scenarios.