Design and development of wireless networking for solar PV panel cleaning robots

Abstract

This paper discusses about one of the possible solutions to overcome the influence of dust on the surface of solar PV panel. A decrease in power output with the increase in particle deposition has been identified in large scale solar PV power generation where there were many numbers of solar panels connected in the form of arrays and each array requires a robot to carry out efficient cleaning with in stipulated time. Autonomous automatic cleaning operation along with self-control and monitoring of accumulated dust with proper coordination through networking between robots is prerequisite option to attain efficient cleaning system in large scale solar power plants. To accomplish the same, selection of appropriate communication technology for real time wireless networking of solar cleaning robots with low power consumption and data delay to operate over wide area is required. Here an attempt had been made to bring in an automated robot cleaning system using low power wide area network (LPWAN) based on a network of ESP 8266 Node MCU’s associated with a set of sensors under different configurations which showed successful results for implementation in industrial scale large solar PV power plants.