Enhance and Maintain Efficiency of Solar Panel using Auto Cleaning System

The conventional sources of energy are depleting rapidly. Which lead the world towards the trend of renewable energy sources. Among renewable energy sources solar PV is one of the major sources of energy. This technology of solar PV faces many challenges. Among these challenges dust accumulation on surface of solar panel is a major problem which leads to sharp decline in solar panel output power and hence efficiency. Different studies suggest that the efficiency of solar panel can be reduced by half of its maximum efficiency if not cleaned for a month. To tackle this problem of dust accumulation, in this thesis an automatic cleaning mechanism has been designed which automatically detects dust accumulation on the surface of solar panel and clean it using a vacuum blower. In this experimental setup a solar panel of 40 watts along with 2 DC motors of 12V supply. The vacuum blower slides over the surface of the solar panel using a cart in backward and forward direction for a few seconds. The supply used for this dc motor and hence the vacuum blower is made from the lead acid battery charged from the same solar panel. The maximum output efficiency of the panel is declined to 70% when dust is accumulated on its surface. Arduino microcontroller is used for triggering the motor and hence the vacuum blower. As vacuum blower is used for cleaning purpose, so this method is free from water wastage. Results showed that the efficiency can be improved to 18-20% after one round of cleaning using this automatic cleaning system.