Solar Panels Dirt Monitoring and Cleaning for Performance Improvement: A Systematic Review on Smart Systems

Abstract

The advancement in technology to manage energy generation using solar panels has proved vital for increased reliability and reduced cost. Solar panels emit no pollution while producing electricity as a renewable energy source. However, the solar panel is adversely affected by dirt, a major environmental factor affecting energy production. The intensity of light falling on the solar panel is reduced when dirt accumulates on the surface. This, in turn, lowers the output of electrical energy generated by the solar panel. Since cleansing the solar panel is essential, constant monitoring and evaluation of these processes are necessary to optimize them. This emphasizes the importance of using smart systems to monitor dirt and clean solar panels to improve their performance. The paper tries to verify the existence and the degree of research interest in this topic and seeks to evaluate the impact of smart systems to detect dirt conditions and clean solar panels compared to autonomous and manual technology. Research on smart systems for addressing dirt accumulation on solar panels was conducted taking into account efficiency, accuracy, complexity, and reliability, initial and running cost. Overall, real-time monitoring and cleaning of the solar panel improved its output power with integrated smart systems. It helps users get real-time updates of the solar panel’s condition and control actions from distant locations. A critical limitation of this research is the insufficient empirical analysis of existing smart systems, which should be thoroughly examined to allow further generalization of theoretical findings.

Designing and Manufacturing a Robot for Dry-Cleaning PV Solar Panels

“…Perhaps, this efficiency is due to the presence of dust and bird droppings attached to the surfaces of the solar cells, which requires a washing cycle. These results are consistent with [19,35,38].…”

“…Therefore, there is a necessary need for an automated machine for PV panel cleaning processing to overcome these disadvantages of the traditional cleaning method. Where [35] mentioned that smart systems for cleaning solar panels have the potential to increase energy output, improve life-time performance, and reduce maintenance costs furthermore reducing human intervention. As a consequence, in the last few years, robots for cleaning PV panels have gradually developed and were replaced by traditional cleaning methods implemented by human operators.…”

Covalent crosslinking chemistry for controlled modulation of nanometric roughness and surface free energy

“…[8][9][10][11] However, unavoidable deposition of different forms of particulate matter, such as dust, dirt, soot, y ash, pollen, and other organic waste, under outdoor conditions appeared as an Achilles heel towards its unperturbed performance. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In fact, the deposition of ne dust particles that block exposure to sunlight reduces the efficiency of the solar panel by up to 50%. 13 While the limited efficiency of solar panels remained a concern towards energy production cost, the deposited dust would also substantially impact the cost of operation and maintenance of solar panels.…”

“…[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In fact, the deposition of ne dust particles that block exposure to sunlight reduces the efficiency of the solar panel by up to 50%. 13 While the limited efficiency of solar panels remained a concern towards energy production cost, the deposited dust would also substantially impact the cost of operation and maintenance of solar panels. To address this concern, various cleaning approaches-including manual cleaning, equipment-based brush cleaning, electrostatic cleaning, vibrating cleaning, heliotex cleaning, forced-air cleaning, etc., were introduced in the literature.…”

Solar panel surface dirt detection and removal based on arduino color recognition

“…Many mechanisms have been adopted to bridge the gap between cleaning costs and the fair dirt condition for the efficiency of solar panels [14] . Relatively, to determine whether the solar panel has dust present on it, some studies have been carried out to measure the particle mass of a sample glass or the light transmittance loss [15] .…”