A New Method to Reduce Soiling Effect on Performance of a Solar PV Module

Abstract

In spite of many advantages behind the dependence on the photovoltaic (PV) systems butthe efficiency level of the PV module still not satisfying. The fuel of the PV modules is the amount of sun light absorbedby the module and that depends on many factors such as front surface reflectivity, solar beam incidence angle and the most important is the transmissivity of the front surface. Soiling and dust accumulation reduce the transmissivity. This article presents a review for the studies about the impact of dust accumulation on solar PV module performance and a discussion for some solutions or cleaning techniques implemented in the previous studies. Also in this work, a new method is introduced to reduce the soiling. The method can briefly described as a moving cover with a cotton cloth attached firmly to the backside of the cover. At sunset, the module should be covered and the cloth wipes down part of the dust and the opposite happens at the sunrise. The results showed that a 9.22% gain in power produced by covered module than the uncovered module. Also, the covered module output was very close to the module after it was cleaned.