Faults Detection for Photovoltaic Field Based on K-Means, Elbow, and Average Silhouette Techniques through the Segmentation of a Thermal Image

Abstract

Clustering or grouping is among the most important image processing methods that aim to split an image into different groups. Examining the literature, many clustering algorithms have been carried out, where the K-means algorithm is considered among the simplest and most used to classify an image into many regions. In this context, the main objective of this work is to detect and locate precisely the damaged area in photovoltaic (PV) fields based on the clustering of a thermal image through the K-means algorithm. The clustering quality depends on the number of clusters chosen; hence, the elbow, the average silhouette, and NbClust R package methods are used to find the optimal number K. The simulations carried out show that the use of the K-means algorithm allows detecting precisely the faults in PV panels. The excellent result is given with three clusters that is suggested by the elbow method.