Developing an Automatic Dust Cleaning Unit to Improve the Photovoltaic Panels productivity (original) (raw)

Development and Evaluation of Dust Cleaning System for a Solar PV Panel

Journal of Engineering Research, 2022

The most promising application of solar energy is the conversion of solar energy into electrical energy by using solar photovoltaic (PV) panel. The performance of solar based PV panel is definitely influenced by the amount of solar radiation, which are reaching on the panel surface. Since the solar PV panels are operating in open atmosphere dust particles get deposited on their surfaces and most of the times they have to work in this condition. These deposited dust particles create a layer of dust particles over the panel surface which prevents the 100% penetration of solar radiation into the panel surface. Therefore, proper cleaning of the panel surface becomes very necessary. In order to improve the performance of the PV panel an automatic microcontroller driven dust cleaning technique is developed which is capable of removing the accumulated dust particles from the PV panel surface. Moreover, an experimental study has been performed to analyse the efficiency of this developed tec...

Design &Development of PV Solar Panel Cleaning Mechanism Using Arduino UNO

International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET), 2022

From ancient times the human beings are very aware about the cleanliness of the house and the parts neighbouring to it. The solar PV modules are generally employed in dusty environments which is the case in tropical countries like India. The dust gets accumulated on the front surface of the module and blocks the incident light from the sun. It reduces the power generation capacity of the module. The power output reduces as much as by 50% if the module is not cleaned for a month. In order to regularly clean the dust, a automatic cleaning system has been designed, which senses the dust on the solar panel and also cleans the module automatically. This automated system is implemented using 8051 microcontroller which controls the DC gear motor. This mechanism consists of a sensor (LDR). While for cleaning the PV modules, a mechanism consists of a slidingbrush has been developed. A number of environmental factors such as wind speed, humidity, ambient temperature, solar radiation, atmospheric dust and direction influences the power generation process using installed solar photovoltaic modules. Dust build-up on solar module surface is an issue of great worry, particularly in desert provinces where infrequent to regular dust storms do occur. The glass cover transmittance decreases because of accretion of dust on the surface of PV module, which ultimately decreases the amount of solar irradiation reaching the cells. The dust density of the surface, orientation, the tilt angle, exposure period, dominant wind direction, and site climatic conditions determines the reduction in glass transmittance. The density of deposited dust, the composition of the dust and its particle distribution determines the effect of the effect of dust on the power output and currentvoltage (I~V) characteristics of PV modules When PV modules are exposed to real outdoor condition for a long period, it was observed that the performance decreases gradually with dust build-up lest the modules are cleaned by rain or human action. The power output decreases by more than half if no cleaning is accomplished on modules that exceeds six months. Reduction in power output due to dust build-up does not depend only on the length of module exposure, but also on the occurrence and strength of dust. Subsequently, it is suggested that installed PV modules should be cleaned at least once in two weeks. Nevertheless, in the time when sandstorm occurs, immediate cleaning of the solar modules should be performed. It was observed that rainfall improved the power production of dusty solar modules, yet it cannot be trusted upon for cleaning since it is not foreseeable.

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MICROCONTROLLER BASED AUTOMATIC DUST CLEANING SYSTEM FOR SOLAR PANEL

Publication Impact Factor (PIF) :1.026 www.sretechjournal.org ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to give an innovative concept to handle energy demand around the world is increasing rapidly for many applications. Renewable sources of energy are solar, wind and geothermal which are inexhaustible. Solar energy is abundant in nature and is proving its existence for many applications like street lighting, house hold appliances, water heating, agricultural and industrial purpose. One of the way to harness solar energy is done by using solar panels. Limitation of solar energy is its efficiency for any application due to the factors like dust, humidity, temperature etc. Electrical parameters of solar panel are sensitive to accumulated dust density and will affect the transmittance of the solar panel thereby reduce its efficiency. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to clean the solar panels regularly. One of the method is to increase the efficiency of solar panel is by removing the dust accumulated on solar panel. Cleaning of solar panels is difficult task. The normal way to clean the solar panels is washing them manually but it is not reliable and economical. In this regard a work is taken up to design and implement the automatic dust cleaning mechanism for solar panel. The designed automatic cleaning mechanism consists of IR LED, Photo diode arrangement in order to sense the dust accumulated on solar panel. The efficiency of solar panel is determined by taking the readings of voltage and current of particular panel with and without dust for various days, weeks and months. By the recorded values efficiency comparison of solar panel with dust and without dust is made. The designed automatic cleaning system produces an effective, non-abrasive cleaning and avoids irregularities in the generation of power due to the deposition of dust on the solar panel. From the study it is proved that average efficiency of solar panel increases about 1.6% to 2.2% by regular cleaning. Thus developed model maximizes the efficiency.

Experimental investigation of photovoltaic module system coupled with solar panel cleaning system

Vibroengineering PROCEDIA, 2019

Solar energy is a non-conventional source of energy. Solar panels generate electrical output by absorbing solar radiation. The performance of photovoltaic (PV) module often depends on environmental factors like dust, humidity, hail and temperature. Installation elements like altitude, installation site, tilt angle also affects the efficiency of solar energy output. The objective of this research work is to clean the dust deposited on PV panels using the minimum amount of water and energy. To regularly clean the dust, a semi-automatic self-cleaning mechanism has been designed and fabricated, which cleans the deposited dust on the solar panel automatically. Therefore, the process turns out to be reliable and faster and it leads to increased power output of the solar panels. An experimental investigation has been done at Bennett University, Greater Noida dated 15 October to 21st October 2019. An increase in efficiency by 1.2 % to 3 % was reported in this experimental study.

Automated dust detection and cleaning system of PV module

2017

This paper describes the development of an automated dust detection and cleaning system which could be used to clean photovoltaic (PV) modules. Dust accumulation is one of the factors which negatively impact of the PV module output because it obstructs solar radiation to incident on the module surface hence reducing the overall performance of the system. The system was designed by writing a C program and compiled with Arduino IDE to read voltage and sense current from the PV and calculate power output. The circuit was built with proteus 8 professional. Simulation results show that the system was able to detector power loss due to dust accumulation on module surface and as a results the motor drive for the cleaning mechanism responded accordingly to operate cleaning mechanism. The work is still ongoing whereby a prototype will be built to demonstrate the practicality of the system.

Analysis of dust on the parameters of PV module and design of an effective solar dust cleaner

International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS), 2022

Photovoltaic panel output is affected by various factors like solar isolation, temperature, dust, shading, mounting. Among all these factors dust is a prominent factor which greatly reduces panel efficiency. With increase in the quantity of dust both efficiency and power output of the module reduces. As the mass of dust deposition increases, power output and the efficiency of the module decreases. Dust particles are of different shapes and sizes. PV panels installed on ground or roof top are subjected to dust all the time. The amount and type of dust deposition depends on tilt angle, locations, surroundings nearby, rainfall pattern of that area, maintenance method of the installer. PV plant nearby any industry giving out lot of fumes and smokes will have heavy dust deposition over its top surface. Similarly, PV plants located near areas where roads are not concrete can cause dust deposition on its panels. Manual maintenance is labor costing and less efficient. In this work we have performed dust analysis on the performance of PV panel and designed an effective method to clean the panel and make it dust free. Solar dust cleaner and cooler system provides a solution for both dusts cleaning and keeping the panels at less temperature.

Design and development of solar panel cleaning system

Mantech Publications Pvt Ltd, 2019

The main method for harnessing solar power is with arrays made up of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Accumulation of dust and debris on even one panel in an array reduces their efficiency in energy generation considerably and emphasizes the need to keep the panel's Surface as clean as possible. In this Project a novel design is to be develop a AC current based automatic cleaning of solar panels. A tool is designed based on the array size, and water pumping/sprinkling mechanism is designed based on the amount/nature of dust accumulated. In terms of daily energy generation, the presented automatic-cleaning scheme provides about 30% more energy output when compared to the dust accumulated PV module.

A Comparative Study of Dust Cleaning Methods for the Solar PV Panels

Advanced Journal of Graduate Research, 2017

The present energy consumption scenario is clearly showing the faster depletion of fossil fuel reserves. On the other hand, energy usage index indicates the state of growth of a country. The use of renewable energy sources like solar PV, wind and such alternatives has increased in the recent years. Considerable loss in conversion efficiency of solar PV system has been noticed due to non-availability of proper insolation and accumulation of dust particles on the panels or shading. A comparative study of various cleaning methods of solar panels has been done in this article with emphasis on innovative idea of separation of dust by electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Electrostatic precipitators uses static electricity to remove the dust from the panel by applying energy only to the particular matter being collected and therefore is very efficient in its applications unlike conventional cleaning. This increases the solar panels insolation absorption ability. The weight sensor continuously...

Design and Development of Automated Solar Panel Cleaning Device

journal of emerging ideas and technology, 2019

The increasing awareness about the utilization renewable sources has helped solar energy to reach its pinnacle. The solar energy has grabbed the eyeball attention of much research organization to improve its efficiency. However the maintenance issue still remains ignored. This causes significant decrease in solar PV panels efficiency .The accumulated dust on solar panel block the cell from the sun's radiation and act as an adverse screening effect, it is necessary to keep the solar cells in pristine condition. The current solar panel cleaning methods like manual cleaning, water jet cleaning and robots used in large scale industries. But every cleaning method mentioned above have their own set of limitations to find its application in domestic sector. In this research the automated cleaning device is developed to fulfill the requirements of domestic sector. The main feature of this device is that it ensures three times cleaning of PV panels in its every pass. The device operates on electricity generated by the solar PV panels. The regular cleaning of PV panels using this device will increase the efficiency by 24-29 %. Thus the device positions itself as an economical alternative for domestic sector.

Design and Performance of PV Dust Cleaning System in Medina Region

Journal of Power and Energy Engineering

This work aims to design a cleaning system for the solar PV panels under Medina climatic conditions. This system powered by the PV module itself. Full cleaning system has been designed and tested utilizing a wiper and water jet to remove the accumulated dust and other dirt from solar panels surface. The proposed cleaning system can be worked for long time efficiently. All the strength system components were examined and found to be stable and reliable. Also, the performance of cleaning system evaluated and comparison between the clean and dusty module performance has been conducted. The system performance has been evaluated for both clean and dusty panel at variable inputs of solar radiation. At input power of 805 W/m 2 , the efficiency found to be 13.78% for the cleaning panel and 9% for dusty panel, whereas at the input power of 460 W/m 2 , the estimated efficiency was 12.6% and 7.3% for clean and dusty panel respectively. Significant reduction in the efficiency has been reported as 35% and 42% for both cases. Therefore, the present work can be considering as a promising and efficient system to solve the problem of poor performance of the photovoltaic cells in areas that experience dusty environment and external pollutants. In addition, it is safe clean and economic system.