TITLE:
Low-Cost Automated PV Panel Dust Cleaning System for Rural Communities
AUTHORS:
Derek Ajesam Asoh, Noel Nkwa Awangum
KEYWORDS:
PV Panel, Automated Dust Cleaning, Arduino Microcontroller, Light Dependent Resistor, Dust Percentage Threshold, Low-Income Rural Communities, Sub-Sahara Africa
JOURNAL NAME:
Smart Grid and Renewable Energy,
Vol.13 No.8,
August
15,
2022
ABSTRACT: Dust accumulation on photovoltaic (PV) panels degrades PV panels’ performance; leading to decreased power output and
consequently high cost per generated kilowatt. Research addressing the
severity of dust accumulation on PV panels
has been ongoing since the 1940s, but proposed solutions have tended to increase the cost of PV systems either
from oversizing or from cleaning the
system. The objective of this work, therefore, is to design and implement a low-cost affordable automated PV panel
dust cleaning system for use in rural
communities of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); where financial resources are
limited and significantly strained in meeting livelihood activities. Complete design and implementation details of a
prototype system are provided for easy replication and capitalization on PV
systems for sustainable energy needs. The system detects dust based on the
innovative use of light-dependent resistors. Testing and observation of
the system in operational mode reveal satisfactory
performance; measured parameters quantify a power output increase of 33.76% as a result of
cleaning dust off the PV panel used in the study.