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Water-free automated solar-panel cleaning
Abstract
In this chapter, a detailed review of soiling prevention methods is presented to increase solar panels' energy capture. We describe both semiautomatic water-based solutions and automatic water-free cleaning solutions. The technical details of an indigenously developed automated, water-free cleaning device to remove soiling of the solar panels are discussed. We compare the energy-capture levels, over the course of a month, for PV panels regularly cleaned using automated solar panel cleaning solution, with that of soiled panels in a local solar-panel installation. The increased yield is measured. One of the most important aspects of the solar-power system, for example, in rooftop solar systems, is the cleaning of the solar panels. There are significant losses due to dirt and soiling of the solar panels. So, it becomes very important to keep the solar panels clean.
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Early detection of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and other neurological conditions is vital for effective treatment. Existing methods of detecting RA rely on observation, questionnaires, and physical measurement, each with their own weaknesses. Pharmaceutical medications and procedures aim to reduce the debilitating effect, preventing the progression of the illness and bringing the condition into remission. There is still a great deal of ambiguity around patient diagnosis, as the difficulty of measurement has reduced the importance that joint stiffness plays as an RA identifier. The research areas of medical rehabilitation and clinical assessment indicate high impact applications for wearable sensing devices. As a result, the overall aim of this research is to review current sensor technologies that could be used to measure an individual’s RA severity. Other research teams within RA have previously developed objective measuring devices to assess the physical symptoms of hand steadiness through to joint stiffness. Unfamiliar physical effects of these sensory devices restricted their introduction into clinical practice. This paper provides an updated review among the sensor and glove types proposed in the literature to assist with the diagnosis and rehabilitation activities of RA. Consequently, the main goal of this paper is to review contact systems and to outline their potentialities and limitations. Considerable attention has been paid to gloved based devices as they have been extensively researched for medical practice in recent years. Such technologies are reviewed to determine whether they are suitable measuring tools.
Solar panel conversion efficiency, typically in the twenty percent range, is reduced by dust, grime, pollen, and other particulates that accumulate on the solar panel. Cleaning dirty panels to maintain peak efficiency, which is especially hard to do for large solar-panel arrays. To develop a transparent, anti-soiling Nano-TiO 2 coating to minimize the need for occasional cleaning is the purpose of this study. In our study, a 2D rainwater runoff model along tilted solar panel surface based on the Nusselt solution was established to have better understanding and predicting the behavior of runoff rain water, especially in contact with solar-panel surfaces with Nano-TiO 2 coating. Our simulation results demonstrate that solar-panel surfaces with Nano-TiO 2 coating create a superhydrophilic surface which cannot hold water, showing features of more pronounced in increasing runoff water film velocity comparing to the uncoated surfaces during raining event resulting in better effect of self-cleaning. Validation of our model was performed on titled solar panels for real time outdoor exposure testing in Switzerland. It is found that the dust particles are not easy to adhere to the coated surfaces of the slides comparing with uncoated surfaces, showing great potential for its use in harsh environmental conditions. This study suggests that superhydrophilic self-cleaning solar panel coating maximize energy collection and increases the solar panel’s energy efficiency.
This paper aims to study a control system for a surface cleaning robot and the focus of the study is the surface cleaning robot controller design. The structural framework of the propulsion control system of the surface robot is designed based on the principle of PWM speed control. The function of each module in the control system is divided and described in detail. A kind of thinking based on an AVR microprocessor and its software and hardware design proposals are presented. Through RS485 and PC communication according to the agreed protocol, the control system achieves robot forward, backward, turn and work operations by the use of a DC motor or stepper motor, and it can therefore more successfully realize the work of a surface cleaning robot.
An effective way of improving efficiency and reducing the rate of thermal degradation of a photovoltaic (PV) module is by reducing the operating temperature of its surface. This can be achieved by cooling the module and reducing the heat stored inside the PV cells during operation. In this paper, long-term performance modeling of a proposed solar-water pumping system is carried out. The system, which is used for irrigation purposes, consists of a PV module cooled by water, a submersible water pump, and a water storage tank. Cooling of the PV panel is achieved by introducing water trickling configuration on the upper surface of the panel. An experimental rig is developed to investigate and evaluate PV module performance with the proposed cooling technique. The experimental results indicated that due to the heat loss by convection between water and the PV panel's upper surface, an increase of about 15% in system output is achieved at peak radiation conditions. Long-term performance of the system is estimated by integrating test results in a commercial transient simulation package using site radiation and ambient temperature data. The simulation results of the system's annual performance indicated that an increase of 5% in delivered energy from the PV module can be achieved during dry and warm seasons.
Reflection of the sun's irradiance typically reduces the electrical yield of PV modules by 8–15%. Facade applications located in the tropics may even experience a 42% drop in yield, due to flat incidence angles. Additionally, when a module's cell temperature is elevated there is 0.4%/K decrease in voltage and power for single-and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells: in reference to STC, that number may reach 20%. Numerous ideas to reduce reflection have been proposed, but most have drawbacks: anti-reflective-coatings are not durable and structured surfaces are expensive, accumulate dust and are difficult to clean. Yet water, with a refractive index of 1.3, is a viable intermediary between glass (n glass =1.5) and air (n air =1.0). In addition to help keeping the surface clean, water reduces reflection by 2–3.6%, decreases cell temperatures up to 22 C and the electrical yield can return a surplus of 10.3%; a net-gain of 8–9% can be achieved even when accounting for power needed to run the pump. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Solar Energy is available in abundance and can be easily extracted using solar cells along with regular maintenance of solar panels. However, the efficiency of solar cells which is fairly low, is further affected by factors such as orientation of the panel, shade, wind speed, ambient temperature, precipitation and dust deposition. Especially, the maintenance of solar panels is challenging on account of soiling. Presently, manual and water-based cleaning solutions are generally used to remove the debris accumulated on the panels. In this paper, a detailed review of soiling prevention methods is presented with a view to increase the energy capture from solar panels. The technical details of an indigenously developed automated water-free cleaning device to remove soiling over the solar panels, is then discussed. The energy capture over the course of a month for PV panels regularly cleaned using automated solar panel cleaning solution is compared with that of the energy capture using soiled panels in a local solar panel installation, and the increased yield is measured.
The purpose of this review survey is to provide a literature compilation, updating materials reported in several review papers on solar-device soiling and mitigation approaches published over the past 5 years. The focus is on the period 2013–2015, but an updated listing is also provided for the year 2012 for completeness. This literature review also provides the first update for a periodic, single collation report on such publications proposed in this journal two years ago. This review presents a listing of the publications, their publication source, and some brief tabulated information to help guide the reader into the focus of each of the works.
One of the unique features of photovoltaic (PV) modules is the power drop that occurs as the silicon temperature increases due to the characteristics of the crystalline silicon used in a solar cell. To overcome this reduction in power, module surface cooling using water circulation was employed. The model performance was then conceptually evaluated and experimentally verified. A transient model was developed using energy balances and heat and mass transfer relationships from various other sources to simulate the surface cooling system. The measurements were in good agreement with the model predictions. The maximum deviation between the measured and predicted water and silicon temperature differed by less than 4 °C. The maximum power enhancement in response to the cooling was 11.6% when compared with a control module. The surface cooling system also washed the module surface via water circulation, which resulted in an additional power up of the PV module in response to removal of the particles that interfere with solar radiation from the surface of the PV module. Accordingly, the cooling system could reduce maintenance costs and prevent accidents associated with cleaning. In addition, the increase in cooling water temperature can serve as a heat source. The system developed here can be applied to existing photovoltaic power generation facilities without any difficulties as well.
Through the analysis of the glass wall and solar panel cleaning robot research status at home and abroad, based on cleaning characteristics and requirements of such kind of smooth surface, a full pneumatic-driven flat surface cleaning robot system is presented. The robot adopts unique three-position cylinder driving technique, SCM and PC two-level control, can crawl along the smooth surface and clean, and can overcome obstacles in a certain height. Running results show that the robot system has simple structure, low cost, the functions of on-line fault diagnosis, and can provide a new efficient, simple and safe way for the glass wall and solar panel cleaning.
journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t The performance of PV (photovoltaic) module is strongly dependent on its operating temperature. Most of the energy absorbed by the panel is converted to heat which is normally lost and provides no value. In order to study the performance of a hybrid PV water cooled system, a numerical model (electrical and thermal) is developed using EES (Engineering Equation Solver) software. The model predicts various electrical and thermal parameters affecting its performance. The effect of cooling the module by incor-porating a heat exchanger (cooling panel) at its rear surface is also investigated experimentally. The results of the numerical model are found in good agreement with the experimental measurements performed for the climate of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. With active water cooling, the module temperature dropped significantly to about 20% leading to an increase in the PV panel efficiency by 9%.
The energy delivery of a solar-energy system is generally associated with the sun's available irradiance and spectral content, as well as a variety of environmental and climatic factors and inherent system and component performances. However, other external factors relating to geographical location and conditions can have even greater impacts on system performance. Among these, soiling is a commonly overlooked or underestimated issue that can be a showstopper for the viability of a solar installation. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of soiling problems, primarily those associated with dust (sand) and combined dust-moisture conditions that are inherent to many of the most solar-rich geographic locations worldwide. We review and evaluate key contributions to the understanding, performance effects, and mitigation of these problems. These contributions span a technical history of almost seven decades. We also present an inclusive literature survey/assessment. The focus is on both transmissive surfaces (e.g., those used for flat-plate photovoltaics or for concentrating lenses) and reflective surfaces (e.g., mirrors or heliostats for concentrating power systems).
A stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system is the most promising solution to supply electric power to meet energy demand in isolated locations. This technology can offer an interesting alternative to other currently existing sources of energy. Due to space constraint in the remote offshore oil and gas industry, a stand-alone system is used for cathodic protection, telemetry and valve control. However in such an environment, dust accumulation and bird droppings have been critical issues to the operation of off-grid solar devices. These factors do not only reduce the available power of the modules but also makes the cost of solar devices ineffective since cleaning, especially on well-head towers, is very expensive due to the location. Hence this paper presents two technical solutions that have shown promising results in reducing the impact of these factors.