Today, conventional condition monitoring of installed, operating photovoltaic (PV) modules is mainly based on electrical measurements and performance evaluation. However, such practices exhibit restricted fault-detection ability. This study proposes the use of standard thermal image processing and the Canny edge detection operator as diagnostic tools for module-related faults that lead to hot-spot heating effects. The intended techniques were applied on thermal images of defective PV modules, from several field infrared thermographic measurements conducted during this study. The whole approach provided promising results with the detection of hot-spot formations that were diagnosed to specific defective cells in each inspected module. These evolving hot spots lead to abnormally low performance of the PV modules, a fact that is also validated by the manufacturer's standard electrical tests.

The main gas path components, namely compressor and turbine, are inherently reliable but the operation of the aero engines under hostile environments, results into engine breakdowns and performance deterioration. Performance deterioration increases the operating cost, due to the reduction in thrust output and higher fuel consumption, and also increases the engine maintenance cost. In times when economic considerations dominate airline operators' strategies, carrying out unnecessary rectification, can be very costly and time consuming. In an attempt to minimize such unexpected circumstances, having detailed knowledge prior to any inspection will allow the gas turbine user to take some of the maintenance action when it is necessary. Advanced engine-fault diagnostics tools offer the possibility of identifying degradation at the module level, determining the trends of these degradations during the usage of the engine, and planning the maintenance action ahead.

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