This innovative prototype addresses the need for an autonomous photovoltaic (PV) cleaning system to provide maintenance in respect to cleaning of photovoltaic panels.
Solar energy is a very efficient and more importantly, sustainable form of energy, however, one problem with PV panels is that a build-up of dirt and dust over time significantly reduces the efficiency of these panels, by as much as 75%.
The design of this efficient automatic system detects significant dirt and dust levels on photovoltaic panels and performs automated cleaning to improve the efficiency of these panels hence minimising losses.
The system comprises a sensing unit, an interactive controller, a cleaning unit, and web-based software that can be used for real-time supervisory purposes and data logging.
A sample glass at the same angle of inclination as the PV panel is used to measure the dirt and dust intensity. This sample glass is located along-side the PV system.
