Abstract
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/m2, the efficiency found to be 13.78% for the cleaning panel and 9% for dusty panel, whereas at the input power of 460 W/m2, 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.
Highlights
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest solar irradiation in the world
The objective of this work is to design and fabricate PV cleaning system that can work for long time with a minor loss of efficiency, to achieve this, a detail design analysis will be conducted The performance of the implemented design has been tested and evaluated under Medina climatic conditions
Design and fabrication of a cleaning system powered by solar energy integrated with PV panel has been carried out in this investigation
Summary
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest solar irradiation in the world. The country is strategically located near the Sun Belt, in addition to open and empty desert that may accommodate infrastructure for solar power systems [1]. It is necessary to seek for non-conventional energy resources like renewable energy. Solar energy is one of the most promising sources to replace the dependency on the conventional energy sources. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sunlight to electrical energy. The PV panels are working on an atomic scale to produce the power, the installation, maintenance time and costs can play a significant role in the efficiency of the energy that comes from the PV panel. Dust accumulation on the PV panel surface leads to a reduction in energy output and decreases the efficiency of the solar system. If the panels leave without cleaning, the output power even more, cleaning the photovoltaic panels frequently is essential to get the necessary power output from these panels
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