This Solar Panel Cleaning Robot aims to maintain the efficiency of solar power production by making sure the Solar panels are kept clean without putting humans at risk. This robot comes equipped with a roller brush and a water sprayer to clean all dirt and grime from the surface of the panels. The sprayer gets its supply of water through an onboard tank. The rubber caterpillar tracks ensure that this robot can adhere to the slick surface of solar panels. This robot operates remotely and wirelessly.
As climate change and global warming threaten the future of our planet, it is becoming increasingly crucial to find sustainable ways to fulfill our energy requirements. One of the most efficient ways of moving towards renewable and non-polluting energy sources is to generate electricity using solar panels to harness the sun’s energy.
Since they have no moving parts, solar panels are one of the most cost-effective and low-maintenance ways of generating. Despite all their benefits, the efficiency of solar panels can plummet if dust, dirt, and grime are allowed to accumulate. If maximum efficiency in power generation is to be maintained, solar panels need to be cleaned timely. However, manually cleaning solar panels is hazardous and time-consuming.
This Solar Panel Cleaning Robot aims to maintain the efficiency of Solar power production by making sure the Solar panels are kept clean without putting humans at risk.
This robot comes equipped with a roller brush and a water sprayer to clean all dirt and grime from the surface of the panels. The sprayer gets its supply of water through an onboard tank. The rubber caterpillar tracks ensure that this robot can adhere to the slick surface of solar panels. This robot operates remotely and wirelessly.
Along with large-scale industrial applications such as dedicated solar power plants, this robot can also help boost the efficiency of solar panels in smaller applications such as rooftop solar panels in homes and offices.
Features of Solar Panel Cleaning Robot:
The solar panel cleaner robot makes use of a water tank with motorized pump along with 4x DC motors to achieve vehicle motion using caterpillar wheel motion. The robotic vehicle is built over a metal chassis with a controller circuitry operated over RF wireless remote.
A remote controller is used to wirelessly transmit control movement data to the robotic vehicle. The controller receives the data and operates the wheel motors in desired directions to achieve the desired movement. The front brush is fixed to the main chassis front and operated by a geared DC motor. The front panel also has an integrated water pipe that is used to drive water for cleaning using a dc pump to the front of the brush. The system thus allows for easy solar panel cleaning using wireless control.
Block Diagram
Front view
Side view
Working
The sprinkler sprinkles the water on the panels which is cleaned by the brushes moving on the panels. The water for the sprinkler is drawn from a water reservoir but if this system is installed at canal top solar plants then no added water reservoir is required as it can draw water from the canal for cleaning purpose.
Block Diagram of the cleaning mechanism
CONCLUSION
This project highlights the effect of dust, dirt, pollen, sea salt, and bird droppings on the PV systems’ efficiency. Dust has a major impact on the efficiency and performance of the solar panels. The reduction in the peak power generation can be up to 10 to 30%. Power reduction was observed due to dust accumulation on the panels and this can be improved by using robotic cleaning method. It has increased Power generation capacity of the solar panels. Easy maintenance, low cost and less power usage are few advantages of this process. Finally, the reduction in the peak power generation can also be overcome by using this cleaning system. The device is lightweight because most of its material is made of aluminium. Comparing the costs of cleaning by Manual operation and Automatic operation, the cost for automatic cleaning is proved to be more economic and significantly less cumbersome, particularly, in systems with large number of solar panels. Frequent and periodical cleaning ensures that the solar panels work consistently with a good transmittance at all times
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