ArticlePublisher preview available

Performance enhancement of solar photovoltaic (PV) module using a novel flat plate (NFP) glass cover by reducing the effect of bird dropping (BD) settlement

Authors:
  • Govt. Bangur PG College, Pali
  • Independent Researcher
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract and Figures

A massive bird dropping (BD) deposition on the common rectangular flat plate (RFP) of photovoltaic (PV) module is a matter of great concern in Western Rajasthan (WR) that diminish the overall energy production capacity of the system remarkably. In this research article, a prototype novel flat plate (NFP) design of a front glass cover of PV module is proposed to prevent the impact of BD settlement by the restriction of bird’s sitting/movement on the front glass cover. In this regard, the performance analysis of PV module with common RFP and newly designed NFP glass covers has been assessed at the different inclination β° (0–90). The BD accumulation onto the both glass covers was explored by the optical transmittance profiles at the different tilt angles, i.e., explained by bird movement on each flat glass surfaces. Consequently, a significant amount of output electric energy has been gained in NFP design rather than RFP corresponding to particular tilt regions TR I (0° ≤ β ≤ 25°), TR II (25° ≤ β ≤ 60°), and TR III (60° ≤ β ≤ 90°). According to the results achieved, an excellent level of improvement in average power loss, ~ 97.85%, corresponding to optimal TR (III) has been detected by employing NFP glass collector. Graphical abstract
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Performance enhancement of solar photovoltaic (PV) module using
a novel flat plate (NFP) glass cover by reducing the effect
of bird dropping (BD) settlement
Anil Kumar Sisodia
1,2
&Ramkumar Mathur
1,3
Received: 19 April 2021 /Accepted: 17 August 2021
#The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
A massive bird dropping (BD) deposition on the common rectangular flat plate (RFP) of photovoltaic (PV) module is a matter of
great concern in Western Rajasthan (WR) that diminish the overall energy production capacity of the system remarkably. In this
research article, a prototype novel flat plate (NFP) design of a front glass cover of PV module is proposed to prevent the impact of
BD settlement by the restriction of birds sitting/movement on the front glass cover. In this regard, the performance analysis of
PV module with common RFP and newly designed NFP glass covers has been assessed at the different inclination β°(090). The
BD accumulation onto the both glass covers was explored by the optical transmittance profiles at the different tilt angles, i.e.,
explained by bird movement on each flat glass surfaces. Consequently, a significant amount of output electric energy has been
gained in NFP design rather than RFP corresponding to particular tilt regions TR I (0° β25°), TR II (25° β60°), and TR
III (60° β90°). According to the results achieved, an excellent level of improvement in average power loss, ~ 97.85%,
corresponding to optimal TR (III) has been detected by employing NFP glass collector.
Keywords Bird dropping (BD) deposition .PV module soiling .Novel flat plate (NFP) design .Power loss .Western Rajasthan
(WR)
Introduction
The accumulation of bird droppings (BDs) on a flat plate
photovoltaic (PV) collector worsens the situation that addi-
tionally diminishes the performance of a solar PV module
day by day, especially in the climatic conditions of WR
(N24° 3700to N30° 1048/E69° 2900to E76° 05
33) commonly which is characterized by its high rate of
dust depositionand small frequency (10.420.5 days in a
year) of rainfall with poor intensityin a year (Singh et al.
2005). An enormous settlement of BDs and dust fouling (i.e.,
soiling) on a flat glass cover of the PV module is a critical
challenge for the sustainability of output solar power genera-
tion capacity of PV systems in the Western desert region (i.e.,
Thar) throughout the year (Fig. 1).
Partial shading (i.e., non-uniform illumination) due to sur-
rounding fixed objects like building, tower, tree, and passing
clouds (i.e., dynamic shadow) is a key issue that strongly
affects the overall performance and decide the life of a solar
PV plant. In addition, the deposition of surrounding location
and environment-related fine dust particles like as salt, plant
products, debris, soot, and BD (i.e., static shadow) on the
surface of PV module are promptly observed (Mekhilef
et al. 2012;Appelsetal.2013; Maghami et al. 2016; Said
et al. 2018; Smestad et al. 2020) in daily examples.
Common soling factors like fallen leaves, BDs, and water
streaking can reduce the energy efficiency up to 1030% ad-
ditionally (Dabhi et al. 2017) as well. Furthermore, the dirt
deposition can be also in a main aggressive form of the
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
*Anil Kumar Sisodia
anilsisiitd@yahoo.co.in
1
Department of Physics, Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan Government
College, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University,
Ajmer, Rajasthan 305009, India
2
Department of Physics, Government Bangur Postgraduate College,
Pali, affiliated to Jai Narayan Vyas University,
Jodhpur, Rajasthan 306401, India
3
Department of Physics, Dayanand College, Ajmer, affiliated to
Maharshi Dayanand University, Ajmer, Rajasthan 305001, India
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16082-9
/ Published online: 26 August 2021
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:6104–6124
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Therefore, human support is suggested for water-based cleaning to make proper cleaning of the dusty PV module due to bird droppings. In [8] a new method of cleaning bird drop is suggested considering a microcontroller-based vacuum blower. Which can improve power efficiency by 18-20% for particular conditions of dirty. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
Non-uniform shading causes significant power reduction in rooftop Photovoltaic (PV) systems. Bird drops are one of the key factors that cause nonuniform shading on the PV module. It is found that the output power can be significantly improved with regular cleaning of the PV module surface. In this paper, a water-based surface cleaning approach is applied on a 2 × 2 40 W photovoltaic array that contains bird-droppings, to investigate the improvement in panel output. The experiments were carried out for both clean and unclean conditions for seven cases. The results show a substantial increase in PV power output as a result of the cleaning procedure. Maximum power output was observed for case 6, providing an output of 35.2 W, while the percentage of power enhancement (PPE) for this case was 6.21 %. Case 7 showed the highest level of PPE at 16.69 %.
... 7,8 Solar energy is regarded as one of the most promising renewable energy technologies since it provides an unlimited, clean, and environmentally friendly energy. 9,10 These days, it's common practice to put solar photovoltaic (SPV) modules in various places, like the garden, rooftop, deserted areas, and both sides of the road. 11 The ultimate purpose of doing a location study is to maximize the power generation capacity and system performance prior to installing SPV modules. ...
... 7,8 Solar energy is regarded as one of the most promising renewable energy technologies since it provides an unlimited, clean, and environmentally friendly energy. 9,10 These days, it's common practice to put solar photovoltaic (SPV) modules in various places, like the garden, rooftop, deserted areas, and both sides of the road. 11 The ultimate purpose of doing a location study is to maximize the power generation capacity and system performance prior to installing SPV modules. ...
Article
Full-text available
Bird guano accumulation is one of the environmental issues that could affect the performance degradation of solar photovoltaic modules (SPV). Therefore, the thermal behavior of SPV modules under different accumulations of bird guano (1, 2, 3, and 4 drops) has been investigated and evaluated. Also, the results have been compared with the clean module (control). The study found that the presence of bird guano on the SPV modules created hot spots on the panels’ surface, which increased their working temperature by 5% as compared to the clean module. The higher accumulation of bird guano (4 drops) led to a decrease in the module’s currents by 36–38% as compared to the clean module, while the module’s voltage was slightly affected. In addition, the output power and efficiency of SPV modules under the accumulation of bird guano were found to be lower by 26 and 43%, respectively, as compared to the clean module. These results provide evidence of the performance degradation of the SPV modules by accumulated bird guano, which drives the importance of properly maintaining and servicing the SPV modules. This is possibly achieved through the proper cooling and cleaning process.
Article
Full-text available
Solar cells are considered one of the most important and widespread solar applications in the world. However, the performance of the PV modules is significantly affected by the dust in the air. This paper, therefore, presents a comparison of an outdoor experimental study of dust effect on monocrystalline, and polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules. For analysis, four 100 W PVs were installed horizontally in Sohar, Oman. For each pair of PV modules, one was left dusty due to environmental impact, and the second was cleaned daily. PV performance and environmental parameter measurements were conducted every 30 min for 35 days. The effects of dust on current, voltage, power, and energy were discussed in terms of time and normalized values. Also, cleaning methods were tested to determine the optimum one. It is found that power degradation of monocrystalline (20%) is higher compared with polycrystalline (12%) due to dust accumulation. For monocrystalline, the current, voltage, and power losses ranged between 10.0–24.0%, 2.0–3.5%, and 14.0–31.0%, respectively. However, for polycrystalline, the degradation rates were 16.88–27.92%, 0.455–0.455%, and 17.14–28.1% for current, voltage, and power losses after exposure to outdoor conditions for the same period, respectively. The dust accumulation on the PV surface found after 5 weeks is 0.493 mg/cm2, which can be considered the lowest accumulation rate compared to other Gulf countries, but which, however, leads to less energy degradation as well. It is found that water is sufficient to clean PV in the study area. However, sodium detergent as a cleaner introduced better results compared to water, especially when there is high pollution in the location.
Article
Full-text available
Background: Dust soiling is a main contributing environmental issue with the climatic condition of Western Rajasthan that influences adversely the performance of solar PV technology. The deposition of dust particles reduces the solar output by hampering the solar radiation. Objectives: To explore the trend of dust soiling rate over different seasons in a year and its impact on the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Western Rajasthan in India. Especially, dust particle settlement is primarily affecting the optical properties of the PV modules, which results in declining their output electrical energy yield. Thus, it adds significantly to quantify the effect of soiling by measuring transmittance losses and soiling ratio with different dust particles. Methods: This article presents a significant loss in output energy yield of photovoltaic system with the layer by layer deposition of the different dust particles in Western Rajasthan. In the context of physical properties, the XRD and SEM-EDS analysis of the collected dust sample from SOTA is carried out, and also the dust particle size study has been performed in order to observe the sediment characteristics of various dust samples in Western Rajasthan. The preliminary results depict the optical (glass transmittance) and electrical (soiling ratio) parameters strongly depend on the dust properties and its deposition density. Findings: With this consideration, the highest power loss is observed in the Bikaner dust sample (S1) due to its high transmittance loss (96.1%) and whiles the minimum for Barmer (78.4%). Applications: This study can be useful to guide the appropriate level of dust soiling mitigation on solar PV systems in an arid or particular region. It can also be decided on the optimal cleaning schedule in actual conditions in the year.
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this work is to develop an active self-cleaning system that removes contaminants from a solar module surface by means of an automatic, water-saving, and labor-free process. The output efficiency of a solar module can be degraded over time by dust accumulation on top of the cover glass, which is often referred to as “soiling”. This paper focuses on creating an active self-cleaning surface system using a combination of microsized features and mechanical vibration. The features, which are termed anisotropic ratchet conveyors (ARCs), consist of hydrophilic curved rungs on a hydrophobic background. Two different ARC systems have been designed and fabricated with self-assembled monolayer (SAM) silane and fluoropolymer thin film (Cytop). Fabrication processes were established to fabricate these two systems, including patterning Cytop without degrading the original Cytop hydrophobicity. Water droplet transport characteristics, including anisotropic driving force, droplet resonance mode, cleaning mechanisms, and system power consumption, were studied with the help of a high-speed camera and custom-made test benches. The droplet can be transported on the ARC surface at a speed of 27 mm/s and can clean a variety of dust particles, either water-soluble or insoluble. Optical transmission was measured to show that Cytop can improve transmittance by 2.5~3.5% across the entire visible wavelength range. Real-time demonstrations of droplet transport and surface cleaning were performed, in which the solar modules achieved a 23 percentage-point gain after cleaning.
Article
Full-text available
Environmental dust is modified towards self-cleaning applications under the gravitational influence. Dust particles are collected in the local area of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and they are treated with a dilute hydrofluoric acid solution. The changes in chemical and adhesion characteristics of the dust particles prior and after the solution treatment are analyzed. Force of adhesion and work required to remove dust from hydrophobic and hydrophilic glass surfaces are assessed, separately, for solution treated and collected dust. We show that aqueous hydrofluoric acid solution treatment modifies some dust components while causing the formation of submicron cracks and nano/submicron porous/pillars like textures on the dust particles. The texture generated on dust surfaces after the solution treatment has a great influence on dust adhesion characteristics. Hence, the solution treated dust particles result in lower adhesion on hydrophobic and hydrophilic glass surfaces as compared to that of untreated dust. The gravitational force enables to remove solution treated dust from inclined glass surfaces, which becomes more apparent for hydrophobic surfaces.
Article
Full-text available
Photovoltaic (PV) module operation is critical in PV systems for optimum generation of electrical power. Modules installed in the field suffer uneven soiling caused by bird droppings and dust build-up on their front surface. This study investigated the impact of partial shading caused by non-uniform soiling on the electrical characteristics of multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) modules and strings, and compared this with simulated I-V parameters. Light and heavy uneven soiling on mc-Si solar cells resulted in current mismatch which can be simulated. The effects of partial soiling on the I-V characteristics of mc-Si module strings were experimentally measured and agreed with the simulated results.
Article
Full-text available
Photovoltaic technology penetration is experiencing noticeable progress. However, its performance is significantly affected by soiling, which is influenced by several factors such as site characteristics, weather, tilt angle and surface orientation, surface material and dust properties. This indoor study investigates the effect of soiling on photovoltaic modules, focusing on dust properties and PV surface materials as influencing factors. A Solar simulator, spectrometer and SEM/ EDX were used to characterise and investigate the effect of accumulation of 13 different samples (ash, bird droppings, carpet dust, cement, charcoal, clay, coarse sand, laterite, loam soil, salt, sandy soil, stone dust and wood dust) on PV performance. The findings develop upon previous studies on the effects of dust particle accumulation on PV performance by using more dust samples and applying more rigorous techniques. The results show that charcoal appears to have the worst degradation effect on PV performance with about 98% reduction in short circuit current while salt seems to have the least impact with about 7%. The influence of 2 PV surface materials (acrylic plastic and low iron glass) on dust accumulation were examined, and results show that the acrylic plastic accumulates more dust when compared to low iron glass. Results also show that dry deposition has a reduced adhesion to the coupons compared to wet deposition. The findings could be used in selecting PV farm sites by avoiding areas with high pollution, and it could stimulate further research on selecting an appropriate mitigation technique. The ramifications caused because of soiling cannot be overlooked or overemphasis; as such there is a need to identify appropriate and cost-effective miti-gation techniques that can continue to promote the global penetration of PV technologies and sustain its performance .
Article
Full-text available
This study scrutinizes the reliability and validity of existing analyses that focus on the impact of various environmental factors on a photovoltaic (PV) system’s performance. For the first time, four environmental factors (the accumulation of dust, water droplets, birds’ droppings, and partial shading conditions) affecting system performance are investigated, simultaneously, in one study. The results obtained from this investigation demonstrate that the accumulation of dust, shading, and bird fouling has a significant effect on PV current and voltage, and consequently, the harvested PV energy. ‘Shading’ had the strongest influence on the efficiency of the PV modules. It was found that increasing the area of shading on a PV module surface by a quarter, half, and three quarters resulted in a power reduction of 33.7%, 45.1%, and 92.6%, respectively. However, results pertaining to the impact of water droplets on the PV panel had an inverse effect, decreasing the temperature of the PV panel, which led to an increase in the potential difference and improved the power output by at least 5.6%. Moreover, dust accumulation reduced the power output by 8.80% and the efficiency by 11.86%, while birds fouling the PV module surface was found to reduce the PV system performance by about 7.4%.
Article
Full-text available
The accumulation of soiling on photovoltaic (PV) modules affects PV systems worldwide. Soiling consists of mineral dust, soot particles, aerosols, pollen, fungi and/or other contaminants that deposit on the surface of PV modules. Soiling absorbs, scatters, and reflects a fraction of the incoming sunlight, reducing the intensity that reaches the active part of the solar cell. Here, we report on the comparison of naturally accumulated soiling on coupons of PV glass soiled at seven locations worldwide. The spectral hemispherical transmittance was measured. It was found that natural soiling disproportionately impacts the blue and ultraviolet (UV) portions of the spectrum compared to the visible and infrared (IR). Also, the general shape of the transmittance spectra was similar at all the studied sites and could adequately be described by a modified form of the Ångström turbidity equation. In addition, the distribution of particles sizes was found to follow the IEST-STD-CC 1246E cleanliness standard. The fractional coverage of the glass surface by particles could be determined directly or indirectly and, as expected, has a linear correlation with the transmittance. It thus becomes feasible to estimate the optical consequences of the soiling of PV modules from the particle size distribution and the cleanliness value.
Article
Full-text available
Scarecrows were commonly featuredin rural landscapes until recently. There are numerous rituals associated with creating a scarecrow and erecting it in the field, with many legends being linked to this character.The scarecrow itself has counterparts in many countries worldwide. However, with civilisation progressingand characterised withan emphasis on economic efficiency and agricultural engineering in the present day, scarecrows are disappearing from the rural landscape. Advanced electronic devices replace them, while scarecrows end up in museums and open-air museums calledskansens, as well as beingon display at local village festivals. The goal of this paper is to investigate the past and present functions of the scarecrow in rural areas in Poland as an indicator of changes occurring inthe cultural heritage in these areas. The survey and field studies were carried out in selected localities in Małopolskie Voivodeship that exhibited distinct qualities related to rural cultural heritage. The study involved photographic documentation and a diagnostic survey using the structured direct interview technique. The interview focused on local community leaders. Resultingly, scarecrows were demonstrated to be an essential indicator of changes in Poland’s rural cultural heritage.
Article
Full-text available
One of the most critical challenges is bird dropping deposition (soiling) on a glass surface of the photovoltaic (PV) module in an open environment of Western Rajasthan. This paper has been now exclusively emphasized to focus on effects of the bird dropping phenomenon on the performance of PV systems. The presented study includes the impact of the seasonal bird dropping effect on the reduction in energy yield with various tilt angle configurations. Considering this, the highest level of reduction in power loss was observed at the end of winter (March) and minimum during rainfall (August) every year. The sitting/walking tendency of birds with the plate inclination directly affects the PV output, which is demonstrated by optical study of glass samples (bird dropping patterns). Consequently, the studies of optical transmittance conclude the effect of dropping with different tilt regions I (β < 25°), II (25° ≤ β ≤ 60°), and III (60° ≤ β ≤ 90°), i.e., explained by bird movement onto the module surface. The result also showed that optimal inclination β (40°) has a smaller soiling effect in tilt region II (25–60°) correspondingly.
Article
Partial shading is one of the challenges of PV modules. Even very small partial shading can lead to a considerable power loss in PV modules. Reoccurring partial shading in combination of the presence of local defects increases the risk of hot-spots in PV modules. Hot-spots could lead to failure (e.g. browning, bubble formation and breakdown of insulation system) and therefore to a decrease of service life of the PV modules. In typical crystalline silicon PV modules, every module string is protected by a bypass diode. The bypass diodes protect the shaded solar cell from high reverse current before its breakdown voltage is reached. However, it bypasses also the other unshaded solar cells of the string and therefor typically a third of the module output power is lost. In this work, we analyze and compare a standard 60-cell c-Si PV module with 3 bypass diodes with a hot-spot-free module in which every solar cell is protected with an individual bypass diode. Different partial shading conditions are applied to both modules and the results show that under different shading scenarios, hot-spot-free module show 32% and 80% higher power production compared to the standard module. To investigate the reliability of the bypass diode under shading conditions, we have developed a novel testing setup which switches the bias every 60 s and monitors the temperature by IR camera. The results show that the module is reliable enough to meet 25 years lifetime.