Robotic Device for Cleaning Photovoltaic Panel Arrays

Anderson, Mark; Grandy, Ashton; Hastie, Jeremy; Sweezey, Andrew; Ranky, Richard G; Mavroidis, Constantinos; Markopoulos, Yiannis P.

doi:10.1142/9789814291279_0047

Cited by 51 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The desert regions also face erratic temperature fluctuations, which further serve as a hindrance to the moving parts and cause the batteries to become defective. Thus this additional maintenance and energy consumption posed by robotic cleaning proves to be a point of debate for commercial applications [18].Anti-soiling (AS) coatings have shown to be effective in protecting the surface from dust deposition but diminish the overall transparency of the collector top surface. The commercially available AS coatings are predominantly hydrophobic due to their inherent property of interdicting water to wet the surface causing the dust particles to adhere to the suspended water droplet which rolls off the surface, thereby acting as a cleaning mechanism.…”

Section: Soiling and Power Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Optical Performance and Dust Removal Efficiency of Electrodynamic Screen (EDS) Films for Improving Energy-Yield of Solar Collectors

Bernard

Centra

Argentieri

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC &Amp

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In 2018 alone, global energy demand grew by 2.3% and will rise by 1.3% each year to 2040 [1] making it the fastest growth rate in the last decade predominantly driven by a robust global economy and increased heating and cooling needs. This tremendous need resulted in using fossil fuels to meet nearly 70% of the growth, but also promoted solar and wind generation to have a double-digit growth pace, with solar alone increasing x TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Section: Soiling and Power Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Optical Performance and Dust Removal Efficiency of Electrodynamic Screen (EDS) Films for Improving Energy-Yield of Solar Collectors

Bernard

Centra

Argentieri

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC &Amp

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“…79cleaning}9 Scarcity of water resources, large amounts of water usage, deionization process expenses, and the labor cost to perform the cleaning procedure are the main prohibitive factors associated with the cleaning method using water. As an alternative method, robotic devices are under developmental stages to be utilized in large-scale solar plants to restore their efficiency [8,9,10]. Although significant endeavors , Heliotex} have been pursuit in improving the performance of robotic devices, they are still facing some challenges such as scalibility, minimization of water usage, maintenance and operation costs, to name a few.…”

Section: Developing}7mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrostatic force distribution on an electrodynamic screen

Sayyah

Horenstein

Mazumder

et al. 2016

Journal of Electrostatics

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The enormous potential of the solar energy harvesting plants for providing clean energy is severely limited by dust accumulation on their optical surfaces. In lieu of the most commonly-practiced manual cleaning method of using high-pressure water jets, the electrodynamic screen (EDS) technology offers an attractive solution for removing dust particles from optical surfaces using electrostatic forces. In this paper, the impacts of different EDS design parameters in the electric field distribution on an EDS have been studied. Furthermore, based on electric field expressions, closed-form solutions for multipolar dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces in the EDS application are provided. Detailed evaluation of the EDS performance necessitates investigation of different forces involved in dust removal process. We have provided different comparisons between repelling and attracting forces exerted on dust particles in the dust removal process. Comparison results elucidate how EDS performs in removing a given size range of dust particles. The significant detrimental impact of relative humidity in the EDS performance has been quantitatively addressed. It is shown how just 10% increase in relative humidity can make the repelling force ineffective in dust removal process.

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“…However, the existing robot is still very costly [7] of about $50,000 and should be operated by at least two human operators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weeper Control Design based on Microcontroller for Photovoltaic Panel Cleaning System

Samman¹,

Syafaruddin²,

Muslimin³

2016

IJSMM

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Abstract-This paper presents the design of a cleaning system for the surface of a photovoltaic panel using a weeper control mechanism. We have experimentally designed the cleaning system for single (Photovoltaic) PV panel. The weeper cleaning system is controlled using a microcontroller. The cleaning system operates by spraying an amount of water on the PV panel surface, and then actuating the weeper using a DC motor. Two limit switches are used to sense the weeper position at the edge of the PV panel. In the experimental test, an amount of dust is deployed on the PV panel surface to test its power performance. The experimental results have shown that the weeper can improve the efficiency of the PV panel of about 47% over the efficiency before the PV panel is cleaned. The weeper can be managed to work periodically for example five times in a day, or can be manually activated using remote control mechanism. The power performance of the weeper system is also tested. The percentage of the power consumption over total PV system power during standby condition of the weeper is about 0.79%. While during water spray and weeper operations, it consumes respectively about 8.94% and 4.49%. This low power consumption make this cleaning system feasible for further product development. (Abstract)

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Robotic Device for Cleaning Photovoltaic Panel Arrays

Cited by 51 publications

References 4 publications

Optimization of Optical Performance and Dust Removal Efficiency of Electrodynamic Screen (EDS) Films for Improving Energy-Yield of Solar Collectors

Optimization of Optical Performance and Dust Removal Efficiency of Electrodynamic Screen (EDS) Films for Improving Energy-Yield of Solar Collectors

Electrostatic force distribution on an electrodynamic screen

Weeper Control Design based on Microcontroller for Photovoltaic Panel Cleaning System

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