Thermography Based Real Time Intelligent Condition Monitoring System for Solar Power Inverter

In the present work, citing the various advantages of thermography as compared to conventional fault detection methods and added benefits of Fuzzy controllers, both the techniques are combined and a real time intelligent condition monitoring tool is designed for solar inverters. Failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) of inverter is done. Inverter was operated at different load conditions and IR images were taken at a fixed time interval. Thermal image analysis was done to determine crisp input variables (template matching score and peak temperature) used in fuzzy controller and the output of controller was given to a visual interface. A real time ready-to-use industry tool as non-invasive fuzzy condition monitoring system (NIFCMS) for solar inverters was the outcome of combining the IR camera to fuzzy controller in Labview environment which gives the various health states of inverter. Major advantage of the purposed system is being non-invasive and fast (synchronizes at every 1.526 Seconds) as compared to other condition monitoring methods.