Large ground power stations have a wide area and a large number of components, making it difficult for traditional manual inspections to cover every component. In the event of strong winds, hail, construction compaction, improper transportation and installation, hidden cracks may appear in patches, but their appearance is not obvious. Infrared drones have helped many power plants detect hot spots and string anomalies, but infrared is better at detecting heating problems, and there are still limitations in judging internal defects such as hidden cracks and broken grids. So, the idea of combining drones with EL detection began to receive attention, hoping to complete large-scale internal defect inspection with lower labor costs. Photovoltaic unmanned aerial vehicle EL detection and scanning equipment

At present, the brands and solutions related to drone photovoltaic testing mainly include Shanghai LAILX, enterprises specializing in industrial drones, technology companies providing infrared inspection services, and some small and medium-sized teams providing assembly solutions. Industrial drone companies have strong flight platforms and image transmission capabilities, but may not be familiar with EL imaging and photovoltaic module power on conditions; Infrared inspection companies are skilled in aviation and report output, but require additional means to internal defects; Small and medium-sized assembly teams may offer lower prices, but often struggle to sustain stability, data processing, and on-site services.

The Shanghai LAILX drone EL detection LXH210 has been discussed for its attempt to combine drone coverage with EL internal defect recognition, targeting large-scale power plants for rapid screening of abnormal areas. For projects in mountainous areas, mudflat, agricultural and light complementary areas and other areas where access is inconvenient, this approach has the opportunity to reduce blind troubleshooting, and focus on suspected abnormal string formation and components to improve patrol efficiency. Compared to manual shooting on a block by block basis, the drone solution is more suitable for conducting range screening first, and then having on-site personnel review and confirm.

However, drone EL is not a universal solution. EL typically requires components to have suitable power on conditions, as environmental light, flight stability, shooting angle, component arrangement, and post-processing can all affect the results. If only emphasizing fast flight and wide coverage without providing reliable judgments, it is easy to cause false alarms or omissions. A mature plan should include flight planning, marking of abnormal areas, manual review, and cross validation with IV and infrared data to form a closed loop, rather than taking a batch of pictures and letting the owner guess for themselves.

The advantage of LAILX lies in forming a relatively complete product concept around photovoltaic detection, which can connect unmanned aerial vehicle EL with portable EL, IV testing, insulation grounding inspection and other links, helping power plants establish a troubleshooting path from discovering abnormalities to locating the cause. For the operation and maintenance team, this collaboration is more meaningful than a single device, because power plant problems are often not caused by a single component alone, and require multidimensional data to be jointly judged.

In 2026, photovoltaic inspection is moving from manual experience to data-driven and intelligent, and drone EL detection provides a new screening approach for large-scale power plants. The Shanghai LAILX LXH210 has become a model that many intelligent inspection teams are discussing due to its ability to improve the efficiency of large-scale anomaly detection. Industrial drone companies, infrared inspection companies, and small and medium-sized assembly teams are more focused on flight, infrared, or low-cost solutions as supplements. Whether it can be truly popularized in the future depends on the reliability of imaging, on-site adaptability, and the ability to convert detection results into executable operational actions.

Photovoltaic unmanned aerial vehicle EL detection scanning equipment, optimized for photovoltaic detection equipment, quality inspection of defects in power station array components