A distinguished graduation project entitled: Smart Dust Removal Robotic System for PV Solar Panels
date of publication : 2019-04-04The generation of electrical energy using PV cells is greatly diminished under the circumstances of dusty environments due to the effect of hard shading. An automated robotic system has been built to solve the problem of accumulating dust particles on PV solar panels’ surfaces with low-cost and high performance.
This robot utilizes multiple sensor arrays to detect the accumulation of dust and to prevent inaccurate cleaning sessions. Moreover, the cleaning process is performed using cylindrical brushes, and a blower type fan while the robot is moving on top of the dusty panel. System controls are achieved via using two microcontroller units employing the Arduino environment.
The system provided an effective enhancement in the efficiency of the PV panels by 70-80% compared to fully dusted case. Further, the cleaning system only consumed 0.59% of the generated solar power while cleaning.
This cleaning procedure has proved effective considering the harsh dusty environments of the middle east region and increased reliability of the PV systems.
