Solar Panel Cleaning System Research Articles

Domestic Solar Panel Cleaning System and effect of Enviranmental Dust in PV Modules

In this research paper, various studies revolving around how dirt and dust affect the performance of solar panels depending upon different regions, as different areas have different soil compositions and how they are different from one another. A new way of approach to the domestic solar panel cleaning system, researchers have proposed many ways to improve and classify the object and present it in an image in the past. However, there have few projects related to domestic cleaning of solar panels. Due to the inconsistencies in cleaning especially in region where rain is not the most convenient option for cleaning. On continuous using of solar panels, a layer of accumulated dust particles is settled on the surface of solar panels or PV panels which affect the result of decreasing in efficiency by 50 %. By cleaning on regular intervals it decreases this soil loss. Various data have been collected which shows the importance of domestic solar panel cleaning for future generation.

Smart solar photovoltaic panel cleaning system

With the increasing demand for renewable energy, solar photovoltaic technology is being a topic of concern. However, due to the accumulation of dust and dirt over the panel surface, the performance of the photovoltaic system degrades to a noticeable number. To address this issue: a fully automated, cost worthy and efficient system needs to be invented. This paper presents the design and fabrication process of a prototype able to clean the panel surface. The prototype of this system comprises of a cleaning robot and a cloud interface: the cleaning robot is mobile and able to clean the entire solar array back and forth, with its separately driven cleaning rotatory brush; whereas, the cloud interface is a human-machine interface featuring the distant monitoring and control of the robot. Additionally, to notify the performance of distantly placed solar farm, a sensing unit consisting of sensors was added to this system. Furthermore, to add an automatic cleaning feature, a month-long data of totally clean and dusty panel was processed with regression analysis, and the developed regression model was programmed into the sensing unit. The sensing unit added with the regression model is named as an autonomous unit, as it predicts the suitable time for cleaning action. According to the system evaluation done on a demonstration PV module, it was found that the designed system can clean dry dust accumulated over the panel’s surface. Moreover, by attaching the metal rail tracks on a long solar array, the system seems to be implementable on a large scale solar farm.

Preliminary design and test of a water spray solar panel cleaning system

Solar panels are susceptible to dust accumulation on their surface for long term operation. Scheduled cleaning work is thus important to maintain the efficiency and reliability of the solar panel for producing electricity. The paper presents a preliminary design of the cleaning mechanism for the solar panel surface using a semiautomatic wiper control system. A DC motor is utilized to power the wiper. The amount of water is sprayed over the solar panel surface, while the wiper is moving back and forth. The manual switch buttons are used to control the rotation direction of the DC motor. The experimental tests are conducted to obtain the solar panel performance, namely output voltage, output current, output power, and panel efficiency under clean and dusty conditions. The comparison of both conditions has been made to determine the cleaning effectiveness of the proposed prototype. The test results show that the wiper swept repetition of 10, 20, and 30 times delivers 57.0 percent, 79.1 percent, and 86.7 percent of the performance of the initial clean surface condition, respectively.

Current Practices of Solar Photovoltaic Panel Cleaning System and Future Prospects of Machine Learning Implementation

Solar Photovoltaic System (SPV) is one of the growing green energy sources having immense penetration in the national grid as well as the off-grid around the globe. Regardless of different solar insolation level at various regions of the world, SPV performance is also affected by several factors: conversion efficiency of PV cell technology, ambient temperature and humidity, soiling and seasonal/weather patterns. The rise in PV cell temperature and soiling is found to be detrimental issues regarding power plant performance and life expectancy leading alterations in the levelised cost of energy (LCoE). In this paper, authors present a short glance about factors affecting the performance of photovoltaic modules and re-discuss their usability in cleaning intervention decision-making models. With some highlights on the essence of cleaning to mitigate the soiling issues in PV power plants, this paper presents the existing cleaning techniques and practices along with their evaluations. The need for an optimal cleaning intervention by using advanced scientific tools rather than by visual inspection is drawing the attention of PV experts. The authors finally suggest a schematic of a decision-making model which involves the use of probable parameters, data processing techniques and machine learning tools. The implementation of data science and machine learning in a solar PV panel cleaning system could be a remarkable advancement in the field of renewable energy.

Intelligent Automated Smart Solar Panel Using Internet of Things

Due to increase in power consumption and greenhouse problem all over the world, an alternative source is necessary for generating clean and environmental friendly electric power. In this regard, solar energy could be a good choice of power generation. Moreover, solar energy has also become more efficient as compared to other source of energy systems. The performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) panel however depends on the incoming light to panel surface and it is governed by environmental parameters, mainly dust and lichen/moss buildups. All these shading creates a barrier in the path of incoming sun light, which reduces the amount of sunlight falling on photovoltaic panel surface, and hence power output and performance of panel reduces significantly. There is an urgency in improving the efficiency of solar power generation. To address this issue, we have successfully engineered a self-cleaning solar panel. This specific panel detects the obstruction with a LDR(Light Dependent Resistor) Sensor. It makes the decision from the Microcontroller unit to either clean the panel with the Wiper and Spray water or continue to charge the battery. Our mechanism to combat the decreasing in efficiency of the solar panel is unique, self-reliant, and easy to use. Thus we propose a solar panel cleaning system in order to make a solar panel operate at the best power generation state, while the solar panel is used in any environment.

IoT Based Self-Cleaning and Automated Fault Detection of Solar Panel System

Solar photovoltaic panel tends to lose its performance, when foreign particles start accumulating over it. To get panel at its best, frequent cleaning action is required by some means. It would be beyond imagination, if there comes a task to clean entire solar farm covering miles squares and more, hence a better solution is required. Solar photovoltaic panel cleaning system is a robotic system designed to clean solar panel surface; in order to sustain the efficiency. To avoid frequent site visits, robots can be placed in each array, and by further deploying Internet of Things (IoTs), distant monitoring and cleaning can be achieved. The command for the robots can be given by distant operator through the cloud they are connected with. To make this system even smarter, a separate sensing unit shall be installed along with different sensors that can detect the limit of dust deposition and shall automatically order to perform cleaning action. This study presents the need of cleaning system, which is followed by design and fabrication of robot that meets the design specification and required performance. A month-long data is collected and analyzed to formulate and validate the automatic cleaning algorithm in real environment. From this study, it is concluded that, the IoT can be implemented in the solar PV cleaning system which can improve the system performance significantly.

Experimental investigation of photovoltaic module system coupled with solar panel cleaning system

Solar energy is a non-conventional source of energy. Solar panels generate electrical output by absorbing solar radiation. The performance of photovoltaic (PV) module often depends on environmental factors like dust, humidity, hail and temperature. Installation elements like altitude, installation site, tilt angle also affects the efficiency of solar energy output. The objective of this research work is to clean the dust deposited on PV panels using the minimum amount of water and energy. To regularly clean the dust, a semi-automatic self-cleaning mechanism has been designed and fabricated, which cleans the deposited dust on the solar panel automatically. Therefore, the process turns out to be reliable and faster and it leads to increased power output of the solar panels. An experimental investigation has been done at Bennett University, Greater Noida dated 15 October to 21st October 2019. An increase in efficiency by 1.2 % to 3 % was reported in this experimental study.

Solar Panel Cleaning System

Solar Panel Cleaning System

Automatic Solar Panel Cleaning System Based on IOT

Automatic Solar Panel Cleaning System Based on IOT

Applying Fuzzy Logic Controller to Intelligent Solar Panel Cleaning System

This paper presents an intelligent solar panel cleaning system that utilizes a fuzzy logic controller. The output voltage of the solar panel is applied to calculate whether to activate the cleaning mechanism. The direction and position of the system is set using a light sensor that is parallel to the direction of the sunlight. The data from the light sensors, combined with fuzzy logic control software developed using LabVIEW, determine the control commands (stop, forward, and reverse) for the stepper motors controlling the cleaning process. The cleaning process, which is repeated until the power output from the solar panels is sufficient, is performed in real-time to maintain the power generating capacity of the solar cells. A water spray is activated in addition to the cleaning process, reducing the temperature of the solar cells and enabling maximal efficiency to be achieved.

Development of Intelligent Solar Panel Cleaning System with Fuzzy Logic Theorem

In this paper, an intelligent solar panel cleaning system that monitors the output of solar panels is designed. The output voltage of the solar panel is used to decide if the solar panel needs to clean or not. The control system is developed using Lab-VIEW. The direction and position of the system is set by the light sensor, which is parallel to the direction of sunlight. The data from the light sensors, along with the fuzzy logic control software developed using Lab-View determines the control commands for the stepper motors controlling the cleaning process. The commands are stop, forward or reverse and the cleaning process is repeated until the generated power output of the solar panels is sufficient. The cleaning process is performed in real-time to maintain the power generating capacity of the solar cells.

A linear piezoelectric actuator based solar panel cleaning system

A linear piezoelectric actuator based solar panel cleaning system is proposed in order to make a solar panel operate at the best power generation state while the solar panel is used in dusty environment. A piezoelectric actuator linearly moving on a guide is employed to drive a wiper fixed on the actuator. At a proper pressure force between the wiper and solar panel, the actuator can drive the wiper to effectively wipe a dust layer away from the solar panel's surface. The cleaning system's energy gain, which is defined as the ratio of a solar panel's output electric energy increase caused by cleaning to the energy consumption by the piezoelectric actuator, is much higher than 1. The merits of using the piezoelectric actuator in a solar panel cleaning system is that the cleaning system has light weight and compact structure, which is a common feature of piezoelectric systems.