Chapter 5 - Electrostatic Removal of Particles and its Applications to Self-Cleaning Solar Panels and Solar Concentrators

Abstract

This chapter discusses the electrostatic removal of particles and its applications to self-cleaning solar panels and solar concentrators. Potential applications of self-cleaning solar panels in PV systems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, are included, and the economic advantage in payback for the added cost is examined in this chapter. Dust deposition on solar panels obscures solar flux, significantly reducing the efficiency of the systems. An integrated electrodynamic screen (EDS) on each solar panel can provide automatic and continuous removal of dust from solar panels without requiring water or any moving parts. The basic principles of EDS operation for removing dust particles from solar panels. In most of tests three-phase operation produced better dust removal efficiency compared to the single-phase operation. It appears that the traveling wave plays an important role in dust removal. The mathematical analysis provides an outline for the operation of the EDS for charged and uncharged particles driven by traveling or standing wave voltages. The analysis presented here has made simplifying assumptions that environmental conditions are ideal for the EDS operation and that the self-field from the charged particles, including image forces, are negligible compared to the imposed fields from the traveling and standing wave voltages.