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.

In the present research work a novel self-sustainable hybrid solar photovoltaic cleaning mechanism coupled with water distillation unit has been proposed. The experiments were conducted on the PV (photovoltaic) modules at Bennett University, Greater Noida A-block terrace from 7th to 13th October, 2019. Post installation, the average efficiencies of the solar PV module system with and without cleaning were compared to obtain a hike by 1.34 %. The water used for cleaning was recycled using a single slope basin type solar still which indicated a working efficiency of 67.94 %. On an average the solar still yielded 5.3 Litres of pure water every day during the experiment with a TDS (total dissolved solids) level of 104 ppm.

Solar energy is one of the widely used non-conventional form of energy. photo voltaic panels generate electricity and heat by absorbing solar irradiation. The performance of solar panels depends on several factors like dust accumulation on the surface, solar cell temperature, angle of inclination etc., To perform the cleaning action efficiently a semi-automatic cleaning mechanism has been designed and fabricated. The designed experimental setup consists of several nozzles attached on top of the solar panels and water is supplied to each nozzle using a Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe frame connected to an AC motor operated with a time switch. Water flows on the surface of photo voltaic module, thus heat exchange takes place. One dimensional heat transfer analysis is performed and the results are compared to the experimental results for validation. The experiments were conducted at Bennett University, Greater Noida dated 9 October to 16 October. An increase in efficiency by 1.28 % to 2.65 % was reported in this experimental study.Keywords: photo voltaic module, computational fluid dynamics analysis, solar panel cleaning mechanism.