A new intelligent system design for cleaning the photovoltaic solar panel surface

Yıl 2019, , 8 - 16, 25.03.2019

Mümtaz Mutluer , Abdurrahim Erat

https://doi.org/10.31593/ijeat.507861

Cited By: 3

Öz

Nowadays electricity is generated by solar energy through photovoltaic solar cells and the system efficiency developed in this direction is being investigated. The efficiency of the photovoltaic panels used to transform solar energy into electricity is utmost importance. Dusting, equipment which are used for photovoltaic systems (DC conductors, inverter, panel interior design, etc.), shadowing, amount of radiation and many other factors affect to the efficiency of photovoltaic panels. Some of these are resolved in the installation of the system, while others are changed over time. For a good efficiency of the system during operation, at bottom, photovoltaic panel surface must be kept clean and so it can be absorb more effective solar radiation. The surface cleaning is empiric in many studies which manual or automatic; it can actually be by an intelligent system. In this study, an intelligent cleaning system based on fuzzy logic with arduino microcontroller was designed to automatically clean the photovoltaic panel surfaces. Thanks to the membership functions of the fuzzy logic as temperature, shadowing, dusting and output current of the panel, the designed system is enabled to operate efficiently. Two membership functions of each of these input functions have been determined. Detailed information about the membership functions of the inputs of the system is given in the system design section. These membership functions decide whether the system will be activated or not. The design purpose is to minimize the efficiency losses due to dusting and dirt on the panel surface and to allow for maximum electrical energy production. As a result, without waiting for the cleaning period, the loss of energy production is eliminated and the efficiency was increased by 15-20 percent.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Arduino, Fuzzy Logic, PV Panel Cleaning, PV Panel Efficiency, Solar Energ

Kaynakça

• Mukund R. Patel, “Wind and solar power systems design, analysis, and operation”, New York, U.S.A, 2006.
• A. Chouder, S. Silvestre, “Analysis model of mismatch power losses in PV systems”, Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 131, Issue 2, 2009.
• S. Ekici and M. A. Kopru, “Investigation of PV system cable losses”, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, Vol.7, No.2, 2017.
• F. Touati, A. Massoud, J. Abu Hamad and S. A. Saeed, “Effects of environmental and climatic conditions on PV efficiency in Qatar”, International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ), 2013.
• M. Hosenuzzaman, N. A. Rahim, J. Selvaraj and M. Hasanuzzaman, “Factors affecting the PV based power generation”, 3rd IET International Conference on Clean Energy and Technology (CEAT), 2014.
• D. K. Chaturvedi, S. Sharma, “An experimental study and verification of the facts related to factors affecting the performance of solar PV systems”, Fifth International Conference on Communication Systems and Network Technologies, 2015.
• F. Touati, M. Al-Hitmi and H. Bouchech, “Towards understanding the effects of climatic and environmental factors on solar PV performance in arid desert regions (Qatar) for various PV technologies”, First International Conference on Renewable Energies and Vehicular Technology, 2012.
• M. R. Maghami, H. Hizam, C. Gomes, M. A. Radzi, M. I. Rezadad, S. Hajighorbani, “Power loss due to soiling on solar panel - A review”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59: 1307–1316, 2016.
• P. A. Patil, J. S. Bagi, M. M. Wagh, “A review on cleaning mechanism of solar photovoltaic panel”, International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS), 2017.
• F. A. Touati , M. A. Al-Hitmi and H. J. Bouchech, “Study of the effects of dust, relative humidity, and temperature on solar PV performance in Doha, comparison between monocrystalline and amorphous PVS”, International Journal of Green Energy, 10: 680–689, 2013.
• A. Syafiq, A. K. Pandey , N. A. Rahim, “Photovoltaic glass cleaning methods - an overview”, 4th IET Clean Energy and Technology Conference (CEAT), 2016.
• A. Al Baloushi, M. Saeed, S. Marwan, S. AlGghafri, Y. Moumouni, “Portable robot for cleaning photovoltaic system - ensuring consistent and optimal year-round photovoltaic panel performance”, Advances in Science and Engineering Technology International Conferences (ASET), 2018.
• A. Gheitasi, A. Almaliky, N. Albaqawi, “Development of an automatic cleaning system for photovoltaic plants”, IEEE PES Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC), 2015.
• M. Kegeleers, “The development of a cleaning robot for PV panels”, Master Thesis, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Technology Campus De Nayer, 2015.
• S. T. Mobin, “Design and development of solar panel cleaning system”, Master Thesis, Mechatronics and Automation, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, 2015.
• H. Kawamoto and T. Shibata, “Electrostatic cleaning system for removal of sand from solar panels”, IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013.
• J. J. John, “Characterization of soiling loss on photovoltaic modules, and development of a novel cleaning system”, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 2015.
• Qi Zhang, X. Lu, J. Hu, “A solar panel cleaning system based on a linear piezoelectric actuator”, Symposium on Piezoelectricity, Acoustic Waves, and Device Applications, 2013.
• A. Alshehri, B. Parrott, A. Outa, A. Amer, F. Abdellatif, H. Trigui, P. Carrasco, S. Patel and I. Taie, “Dust mitigation in the desert: cleaning mechanisms for solar panels in arid region”, Saudi Arabia Smart Grid Conference (SASG), 2014.
• M. A. Jaradat, M. Tauseef, Y. Altaf, R. Saab, H. Adel, N. Yousuf and Y. H. Zurigat, "A fully portable robot system for cleaning solar panels", 10th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA), 2015.
• G. Du, X. Zhang, S. Wei, Q. Ji, H. Wei, "Based on the Internet of things a self-cleaning solar power system of the household micro-grid", Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC), 2016.
• R. K. Yadav, G. Aravind, S. Agrawal,"Efficiency improvement of solar array by mitigating soil loss using Arduino", International Conference on Computer, Communications and Electronics (Comptelix), 2017.
• M. Z. Zulkefli, N. Rusli, N. A. Hashim, J. J. Jamian, M. N. Abdullah, “Investigation of solar photovoltaic performance via cooling-light concentrating and cleaning system using robotic arduino approach", 6th International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics (ICEEI), 2017.
• T. G. Patil, S. Asokan, “Comparative analysis of calculation of solar panel efficiency degradation”, Third International Conference on Science Technology Engineering & Management (ICONSTEM), 2017.
• N. K. Memon, “Autonomous Vehicles for Cleaning Solar Panels”, International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC) 2016.
• J. Hermann, K. Slamova, R. Glaser, M. Köhl, “Modeling the Soiling of Glazing Materials in Arid Regions with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)”, Energy Procedia, Vol. 48, pp. 715-720, 2014.
• L. Dunn, M. Gostein, “PV Module soiling measurement uncertainty analysis”, 39th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013.
• S. Ghazi, “Dust Effect on Flat Surfaces – A Review Paper”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 33, pp. 742–751, 2014.
• S. N. Sivanandam, S. Sumathi and S. N. Deepa, “Introduction to fuzzy logic using MATLAB”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2007.