PV Dust Removal through Fractal-based Electrodynamic Screens


Solar power is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy technologies nowadays. However, dusty weather conditions pose a big challenge to the solar panel’s efficiency by reducing its output power. The lack of an effective and long-term solution that successfully cleans solar panels while consuming low energy has been a challenge for the industry. Hence, there is a growing effort to find a reliable, effective, and cost-efficient method to actively remove dust from the panels. Among the different proposed alternatives, a very promising cleaning technique involves the utilization of an Electrodynamic Screen (EDS). An EDS consists of a transparent dielectric laminate with electrodes embedded in it. The advantages of this technique include self-cleaning, high cleaning efficiency, and the elimination of manual labor, robots, and water-based cleaning techniques. Commonly, the electrodes are arranged in a parallel configuration. In this talk, I will discuss the potential use of different EDS electrode arrangements, based on the fractal concept. The aim was to improve the EDS's performance in terms of its cleaning efficiency, power consumption, and removal time. Finite element analysis was used to compare different electrode arrangements, both conventional and fractal-based. The results show that some fractal-based arrangements perform better than conventional designs, in terms of dust repulsion, transparency, and power efficiency. Additionally, the trajectory of dust particles in selected designs was modeled. The fractal-based design showed a better cleaning path that drives dust particles outside the screen more efficiently, outperforming conventional designs. Finally, a simple and cost-effective fabrication method will be discussed to implement the above-mentioned electrode arrangements.

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