Automatic Photovoltaic Solar Panel Dust Cleaning System

Introduction

Electricity plays a huge role in all shares of lives and the economy. We have become so dependent on this energy source that life without it seems impossible. Almost all the devices used in homes and the industries depend on electricity. With the rapid growth in innovation and technological advances, one cannot ignore the impact and change that comes with this source of energy. In South Africa, electricity is most commonly generated using coal (Eskom, 2016; South African Department of Energy,). However, with the growing costs of electricity and the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, there is an urgent need to implement economically friendly energy sources (Nwulu & Agboola, 2011). Resources that are sustainable and that will reduce carbon gas emissions (Nwulu & Agboola, 2011). For this reason, investments in renewable energy have been tremendous over the last decade especially solar energy (USAID,). Solar energy is the harnessing of radiant light and heat from the sun. The sunlight harnessed is converted to electricity. A huge advantage of solar energy is that it is clean having no negative impact on the environment through the emission of harmful gasses and it is renewable since the sun is an infinite natural resource (Eskom, 2016).

The increasing demand for solar panels should be reason enough to investigate ways in which we can increase their efficiency as much as possible. With the increasing population growth, comes with a rise in energy demand. With the worldwide energy crisis where the world is confronted with energy depletion issues and the growing increase of global warming renewable resources is the answer. Solar energy is the most promising energy source as compared to other renewable energy sources such as nuclear, wind and hydro energy (Nwulu & Agboola, 2011). Consequently, a need to implement more effective ways of harnessing solar energy.

Solar Panel Cleaning Methods

Methods used to clean solar panels include electrical, mechanical, robotic, chemical and electrostatic, ultrasonic cleaning, scrubbing and mopping approaches (Alshehri et al., 2014; Mondal & Bansal, 2015b; Patil et al., 2017), (Mondal & Bansal, 2015a; Parrott et al., 2018). The methods can also be water-based or water-free cleaning solutions (Deb & Brahmbhatt, 2018). A brief overview of some methods developed for solar panel cleaning is described (Alshehri et al., 2014; Mondal & Bansal, 2015b; Patil et al., 2017). Other methods are described in details in (Alshehri et al., 2014; Mondal & Bansal, 2015b; Patil et al., 2017):