Introduction
Every thermal anomaly detected by Sitemark has an estimated loss associated with it. It's visible in the information overview of a specific anomaly and in the chart view.
To learn more about loss estimation in charts view you can use this support article.
How was the Loss Estimation created?
The loss estimation system was developed with Imec* as part of the Analyst research project. A rule-based AI system was trained on monitoring system data from several sites to learn how the type of anomaly and the temperature information influence the induced losses.
Note that these losses are estimations based on the thermal signature of the anomaly. They're typically quite accurate, relatively speaking, allowing you to prioritize anomalies with respect to each other.
The loss depends on many factors (irradiance, air temperature, other panels in the string, etc.), so they should not be used to predict accurate energy gains.
How is the Loss calculated on a panel?
The table below shows some rules the system learned, sorted from highest loss to lowest loss.
Anomaly | Derivation |
String Open panel Missing panel | Complete loss of panel production. |
Hotspot | Loss is calculated based on the delta temperature of the anomaly. |
Multiple hotspots | Loss is calculated based on the delta temperature of the anomaly. |
Single bypassed substring | 1 of the 3 substrings is not producing. |
Double bypassed substring | 2 of the 3 substrings are not producing. |
PID | Average rule due to high variability. |
Potential PID | Average rule due to high variability. |
Single diode | Average rule due to high variability. |
Multi diode | Average rule due to high variability. |
Thin film multi-cross-cell | Average rule due to high variability. |
Thin film single cross-cell | Average rule due to high variability. |
Junction box | Average rule due to high variability. |
Losses are only calculated on the panel level and do not factor in the anomaly's effect on the rest of the string.
* IMEC: Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Center is an independent research center in the field of microelectronics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, design methods, and technologies for ICT systems.