The cleaning force of solar panel based on flexible beam

ABSTRACT

The accumulation of dust on solar panels severely affects the power generation efficiency of photovoltaic systems. It is necessary to understand the cleaning mechanism of brush filaments against solar panels for mechanical cleaning. In this paper, the cleaning force was calculated in using the nylon brush as the actuator. Under three bending states of brush filaments, the mechanical model was derived by analyzing the interaction force of filament and dust, which assumed that the dust particles are rigid balls and the brush filaments are flexible beams. The normal force of the dust particle against the filament is dependent on the deflection angle, the axial and radial displacement of the terminal filament, and the cleaning force also depends on them. The average relative error is 9.2676% of the normal force between the model and experiment in an acceptable value. The results indicate that the nylon brush filaments have the optimal cleaning effect for solar panels, which the length of the filament is 20 mm, the filament diameter is 0.3 mm, and the axial displacement is 13–15 mm. This research presented an alternative solution to design the new tool for improving the cleaning efficiency of dust particles.

KEYWORDS:

• Flexible beam
• solar panel
• dust particles
• cleaning force
• nylon brush

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51566015) and the projects of Qinghai Provincial Science & Technology Department (Grant No. 2019-ZJ-7002).

Nomenclatures

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No.51566015]; the projects of China Qinghai Provincial Science and Technology Department [No.2019-ZJ-7002].

Notes on contributors

Juntao Zhang

Juntao Zhang, was born in 1996, is currently a master candidate at Qinghai University, China. His research interest includes cleaning methods for solar panels.

Shan Wang

Shan Wang, was born in 1983, is currently an associated professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Qinghai University, China. She received master degree from Qinghai University, China. Her research interest includes cleaning methods for solar panels.

Yuanqing Xin

Yuanqing Xin, was born in 1990, is currently an engineer in Qinghai product quality supervision and Inspection Institute, China. He received master degree from Qinghai University, China. His research interest includes cleaning methods for solar panels.

Maoyao Hang

Maoyao Hang, was born in 1993, is currently a master candidate at Qinghai University, China. His research interest includes cleaning methods for solar panels.

Dedong Gao

Dedong Gao, was born in 1980, is currently a professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Qinghai University, China. He received PhD degree from Zhejiang University, China. His research interests include intelligent maintenance of PV system, bio-manufacturing and medical robots.