A cold and frosty morning in Doncaster at Blyton Park Driving Centre – out with the drones and the BBC One Show team filming an article about potholes!
The One Show’s presenter Iwan Thomas presents the piece and overseas the competition judged by some eminent people in their field, Victoria Hazael (Cycling UK), Vince Crain (The AA), Keith Jones (Institution of Civil Engineers). The filming took place on Blyton Race Track in Lincolnshire, where three large potholes were repaired and reviewed. They will be testing out pothole repair technologies on the racing circuit itself and we will be providing supporting cinematography from an aerial perspective!
Watch the One Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPqk2OEMYpU
Hot Spot, Bypass Diode or PID: Reading Solar Panel Thermal Signatures
A thermal image of a photovoltaic array records surface temperature, and surface temperature is a symptom rather than a diagnosis. This post sets out how the signatures are actually read on an operating array: what a single hot cell suggests, why a uniformly warm third of a module points somewhere entirely different, how potential-induced degradation gives itself away by geometry, and why severity under IEC 62446-3:2017 is framed with caution rather than asserted from one temperature figure.
Following the Water: Gutters, Valleys and Where a Roof Sheds Rain
A roof moves rainwater along a designed path, from slope to valley to gutter to outlet. Autumn is when that path is loaded for the first time in months, and when anything silted, sagging or split begins to show. Almost none of it is visible from ground level. This is what an aerial inspection records about roof drainage, why standing water is such a useful signal, and how observations are marked on the imagery so a contractor can quote from them.
Radiometric Thermal Imaging: Why a Thermal Image Is Not a Temperature
A thermal camera does not measure temperature, it infers one from the radiation reaching its lens. That inference depends on emissivity, reflected apparent temperature, distance and the state of the air in between, all of which the thermographer supplies. Get them wrong and the camera still reports a confident figure. This piece sets out what has to be controlled to make a thermogram measurable, why it matters more on some surfaces than others, and what to ask a supplier.
