Sedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde ValleySedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley
    Sedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley Sedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley
    • Home
    • Sedona News
    • Business Profiles
    • Opinion
    • Mind & Body
    • Arts
    • Elections
    • Contact
    • Cart
    Sedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde ValleySedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley
    Home » Drones Find Faulty Solar Panels at Schools
    Education

    Drones Find Faulty Solar Panels at Schools

    July 27, 20181 Comment3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Email Reddit WhatsApp
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email Reddit WhatsApp
    Place ads on Sedona.biz

    By Holly Maller

    Cottonwood AZ (July 27, 2018) – Drones – more formally termed Unmanned Aircraft Systems – have grown exponentially in popularity among the commercial sector.

    Yavapai County is seeing first-hand the advantages of drone use when it comes to inspections – specifically, solar panel inspections.

    Matthew Mintzmyer, Associate Professor of Aviation at Yavapai College, has developed a UAS program that gives students the hands-on experience necessary to perform such tasks.

    What began as a simple demonstration for students of the practical uses of drones turned into a beneficial discovery that the solar panels at two separate schools within the county weren’t working the way they should be.

    20180727_FaultySolarPanels

    The first instance took place a few months ago, where Mintzmyer gathered a few of his student at the Cottonwood Middle School to teach them, and the students at the middle school, how to use drones and thermal imaging to inspect solar panels.

    Steve King, Superintendent of Cottonwood School District, says he heard about the work that Mintzmyer was doing at Yavapai College and thought it would be good for his students to see.

    “I wanted to get my students excited about what happens after high school and the programs they can go into, so I asked him if he could come out and do a demonstration at two of our schools, and one of the things he demonstrated was the drone technique to inspect solar panels,” explains King.

    No one thought that they would actually find something wrong with them – turning a demonstration into a real-life experience that helped not only the students, but the schools themselves.

    “He found that some of our panels were not operating at the efficiency and effectiveness that they could have been,” continues King.

    Professor Mintzmyer explains that through thermal imaging, the drones can detect how hot the panels are, and that when spots show up as bright yellow, it shows an inconsistency in panel performance.

    Due to the fact that the panels were recently installed, Mintzmyer explains they likely never would have even discovered they were faulty in the first place.

    “A two year-old solar panel system shouldn’t have any faults, so they wouldn’t have even realized they weren’t collecting as much power as they should have been had it not been for the thermal imaging,” he states.

    Even more recently, just a couple weeks ago, Mintzmyer and his senior class of UAS students went to Granville Elementary School to learn the same thermal imaging technique.

    Once again, faults were discovered on a large chunk of the panels.

    “The only other way to have discovered this would to have sent someone from APS to manually inspect each and every solar panel. It would have taken at least a day, if not longer. It took us about ten minutes,” says Mintzmyer.

    The time-saving factor is a massive advantage that comes along with using drones to inspect not only solar panels, but also a variety of other things such as infrastructure and agriculture.

    In addition, the risk factor for workers is mitigated. With drones, workers are able to see the issues right then and there, instantaneously, without having to inspect it themselves.

    For those interested in the use of drones to perform inspections, email Yavapai College’s Matthew Mintzmyer at matthew.mintzmyer@yc.edu or call at (928) 717-7375.

    Place ads on Sedona.biz

    Scott mayor
    samaireformayor
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Email Reddit WhatsApp
    Sedona.biz Staff

    Related Posts

    YSCO K9 Units Seize Over 50,000 Fentanyl Pills in Two Traffic Stops

    August 8, 2022

    YCSO Receives Funding From State Attorney General For Reachout Program

    August 4, 2022

    August Primary Election 2022 Early Ballot Update

    August 1, 2022

    1 Comment

    1. Richard Factor on July 30, 2018 10:47 am

      Howdy!

      I love my drone, too, and unmanned aerial systems have many uses and even greater potential in the future. Certainly, the exercise for the students discussed above will enhance their skills and be valuable to them and the UAS community in the future.

      That being said, I’d like to point out that the photograph in the article is almost certainly deceptive when combined with the use of the term “faulty.” On a brand new, largish installation like the one shown, one might expect one or two truly faulty panels, not the astonishing number implied by the photograph. And especially not in two separate installations. My own four-year old (much smaller) home installation hasn’t yet had a single bad panel. What it and all installations have are small differences between “identical” panels. For example, my computer at this very moment is showing a low of 165W and a high of 171W over 70 panels, typical variations due to slight differences in insolation, dirt, dust, and aging.

      What the photo presumably is showing is small differences in panel temperature because that is what thermal imaging measures. By setting the spurious “defective” threshold of the measurement more or less arbitrarily, you can obtain a photo such as that in the article A defective solar panel actually can be unusually hot or unusually cold or anything in between. The easy and valid way to determine if there’s a problem is to read the power delivered by the panel on the computer that should be and probably is connected to a system of this size. No drone is necessary.

      Just as with the bizarre “dirty electricity” graph shown during the “smart meter” wars a few years ago, you can make measurements which create pretty pictures and graphs and then use them to support false or irrelevant conclusions.

      I hate that.

    Paid Political Ad Paid For by Samaire for Mayor
    Paid Political Ad for Samaire Armstrong
    Paid Political Announcement by Samaire For Mayor

     THE MOMENT IS UPON US

    Dear Sedona,

    The moment is upon us. The time for a united effort to shift the focus back to our community is now.

    The ability to thrive in our community, our environment, our workforce, and the tourist industry, is entirely possible because we have all the resources needed for success.

    Still, we need a council that isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions, that makes decisions based on data and facts, and through discussion, rather than moving and voting in group unison as they so regularly do.

    This is my home. I have been a part of the Sedona community for 28 years. I witnessed the road debacle, the lack of planning, the city circumventing the local businesses ability to thrive, while making choices to expand the local government and be in direct competition with private industry.

    I am a unique candidate because unlike the incumbents, I don’t believe the government should expand in size, nor in operations, nor would I attempt to micromanage every aspect of our community.

    City government should stay in its lane and allow the competitive market of local private industry to prosper. And it should defend our community from corporate takeover and infiltration of our town.

    I do not agree that we should sign onto International Building Codes and regulations by signing Sedona up to the ICC. It is imperative that we remain a sweet, rural community.

    Where are the arts? Where is this organic thriving element that we allege to be animated by. Where is our culture? Where is our community?

    The discord between the decision making process and the desires of the community have never been more clear. It has been nearly a decade in the making.

    It is time for a new era of energy to take charge. An energy that is reflective in the ability to succeed rather than be trapped in out of date consciousness.

    It has been a great honor meeting with each of you. I hear your concerns over the insane and out of control spending and I echo them. A budget of $105,000,000 in a town of 9700 residents is completely unacceptable. A parking structure (that looks like a shoe box) originally slated to cost 11 million, now projected to cost 18 million, is incomprehensible. Especially, considering there is no intention of charging for parking.

    For those who are concerned that I lack the political experience within our established system- that is precisely what Sedona needs… Not another politician, but instead a person who understands people, who listens to the voices within the community, and who will act in service on their behalf with accountability, for the highest good of Sedona. What I am not, will prove to be an asset as I navigate the entrenched bureaucracy with a fresh perspective. Business as usual, is over.

    Creative solutions require new energy.

    Every decision that is made by our local government, must contemplate Sedona first.

    • Does this decision benefit the residents?
    • Does this decision benefit the local businesses?
    • Does this decision actually help the environment?
    • Will this decision sustain benefit in the future, or will it bring more problems?

    What we have now is a city government that expands to 165 employees for 9700 residents. Palm Desert has 53,000 residents and 119 city employees. Majority of our city department heads are not even in town. I find this problematic.

    Efforts towards championing in and courting new solutions for our medical needs are imperative. We are losing our doctors. We must encourage competition with other facilities rather than be held hostage by NAH, who clearly have their own set of dysfunctions.

    We must remember that so many move to Sedona for its beauty, hiking, and small town charm. Bigger, faster, and more concrete does not, in broad strokes, fit the ethos of Sedona.

    The old world must remain strong here in balance, as that is what visitors want to experience. Too many have noted that Sedona has lost its edge and charm.

    As Mayor I will preserve the rural charm of our community, and push back against the urbanization that is planned for Sedona.

    As mayor I will make it a priority to create opportunities to support our youth.  After school healthy, enriching programs should be created for our kids, and available to the Sedona workforce regardless of residency and regardless of school they belong to.

    As Mayor, I will create an agenda to deliberately embody the consciousness of our collective needs here, allowing private industry to meet the needs of our community rather than bigger government.

    I hope to have your vote on Aug 2nd. I am excited and have the energy to take on this leadership role with new eyes, community perspective, and the thoughtful consciousness that reflects all ages of the human spectrum.

    Thank you deeply for your consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Samaire Armstrong

    Sedona elections
    Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    Ready to Rumble

    By Tommy Acosta
    In the Blue Corner stands Scott Jablow and in the Red Corner of the ring stands Samaire Armstrong, ready to rumble to the bitter end in their fight to become the next Sedona mayor. Jablow weighs in with 1,137 primary election votes (36.13%) under his belt, having wielded his advantage as sitting Sedona City Council vice-mayor to his favor. He brings his years of serving in that capacity into the fray and waged a solid fight in his campaign to make it to the run-off. Armstrong, however withstood a blistering smear campaign from the other opposing candidates and their supporters to make it to the final bout with 967 votes under her belt (30.73%), an amazing feat for a political newcomer. Unfortunately, for the other two candidates, Kurt Gehlbach and sitting mayor Sandy Moriarty, neither put up enough of a fight to make it to the championship bout. Read more→
    Recent Comments
    • West Sedona Dave on Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    • Bosco Hurn on Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    • SSuzanne on All Arizonans at Risk for Monkeypox; Stigmatizing Only Gives False Sense of Security to All
    • Rob Adams on Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    • Laurenza on Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    Categories
    © 2022 All rights reserved. Sedona.biz.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.