The effectiveness of the wind barrier in mitigating soiling of a ground-mounted photovoltaic panel at different angles and particle injection heights

Abstract

Soiling is one of the most important factors that reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. An increase in the amount of dust particles resting on the surface of the PV panel leads to a significant reduction in efficiency and serious damage to the solar panel. In this research, a numerical study of the behavior of dust particles under different conditions was performed. Based on the CFD method, the dust deposition rate and wind flow domain around a ground-mounted PV panel were predicted. The current research also includes an optical study of the negative effect of the barrier by shading the PV panel, to ensure the correct placement of the barrier before proceeding with the numerical study. Seven tilt angles of the panel were considered, for all configurations the maximum is taken by the 50 μm particles, thus, it is concluded that the particle deposition rate is maximum on the PV when the tilt angle is 40° followed by 30°. The addition of a wind barrier at the front of the system reduced the quantity of particles that reached the surface of the PV, especially for large particles when the force of gravity is not taken into account. To ensure the validity of this barrier, the injection level of the particles was increased, the results were really interesting, the effectiveness of soiling reduction was not affected by a high rate, which is promising.