Automated Solar Panel Dry Cleaner for Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in Kenya

Musau, Peter; Ojwang, B.O.; Njuguna, Chritine

doi:10.1109/africon46755.2019.9133918

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…By using this information, the system can determine whether dry or wet cleaning is required and use appropriate cleaning method to clean the solar panel surface. Several researchers have already proposed different designs of solar panel cleaning robots [4][5][6][7][8][9], and some have also discussed the effects of dust and dirt accumulation on the performance of solar panels [10][11][12]. The proposed model is an AI-based solar panel cleaning robot which performs dry or wet cleaning based on the type of contamination present, with the goal of reducing water usage and improving the efficiency of the cleaning process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AI Based Solar Panel Cleaning Robot

K¹,

SankaraNarayanan²,

Arjun³

et al. 2023

IJETMS

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Among the various renewable energies, Solar energy is one of the most important sources. Solar panel is used to collect the solar energy and convert it into useful electrical energy. The dust accumulated on the solar panel reduce its efficiency to a certain degree. To overcome this problem, efficient techniques to clean the solar panel must be implemented. The proposed model is to clean the dust and bird droppings that has accumulated on the solar panel. An AI-based solar panel cleaning robot is designed which performs dry or wet cleaning based on the dirt or bird droppings, thus reducing water usage. The robot utilizes a Convolutional Neural Network model based on the Visual Geometry Group 16 architecture to detect dirt and bird droppings on solar panels. The robot is designed to perform dry cleaning using a brush and wet cleaning using a water pump, depending on the type of dirt detected. The experimental readings show that the power output of the solar panel increases significantly after cleaning, and the prototype model demonstrates the effectiveness of the robot in detecting and cleaning dirt and bird droppings. The development of such a robot has the potential to improve the efficiency of solar panels and reduce water usage in the cleaning process, making it a more sustainable and eco-friendly solution for maintaining solar panels.

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