Abstract
Soiling can significantly reduce the performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules. One source of soiling is volcano eruptions that eject dust contaminants, which can detrimentally affect PV systems. A microtextured fluoropolymer cover film for a PV module was evaluated as a passive antisoiling solution. In this case, the wind was investigated as a natural force to determine whether it can realize the desired self-cleaning functionality instead of the more commonly employed water droplets. Removal of dust particles of different size categories was investigated inside a wind tunnel. The results demonstrate dust removal of up to ∼90% from wind speeds of 8 m/s. Removal of small dust particles requires higher wind speeds compared with larger dust particles. Smaller dust particles were observed to be trapped within the microtexture cavities. Based on a multicrystalline PV minimodule, a performance recovery between 9.7%–24.0% in terms of short-circuit current density ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">J</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">SC</sub> ), relative to the soiled device, was projected. Utilization of wind for dust removal shows potential but would require further optimization of the microtexture design to enhance the self-cleaning function.
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