Project Details

Description

Photovoltaic (PV) based electricity generation for all sizes of applications, right from individual houses to grid connected system, is being used globally on a large scale. These systems are easy to install and require minimum attention of skilled manpower and are almost free from operation and maintenance issues. The only issue with such systems is periodic cleaning which is manpower intensive for large grid connected PV power plants. It is well established that efficiency of the PV panels decreases with accumulating dust on the panels. Moreover, the dust storms are quite often during certain periods of the year and hence dust accumulates on the panel surface and causes efficiency decrement. Therefore, periodic cleaning of these panels with efficient method and at the same time with few man power, is essential and need of the hour. Usually, these are cleaned using sweet water and then wiping. A suitable DRONE that provide sufficient thrust downwards to remove dust from the panels will be selected. Experiments will be conducted to find the most suitable scheme for the DRONE route, height, and speed to clean the dust on the panels. The DRONE has impellers which release the air downward at a certain pressure. The air pressure flushes away the dust from the PV panels in a gentle way. Analysis of the efficiency improvement of the PV panels will be conducted to prove the viability of the approach as compared with the classical manual way of cleaning the panels. The DRONE may also be fitted with thermal camera which can provide the thermographs of the panels. These thermographs can be analysed to find out hot spots, if any, on the panels. This analysis is useful for avoiding the failure of the panels continuity and loss of power. This is very useful technique to detect the hot spots on the panels ahead of time and hence facilitate taking corrective measures.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/04/201/10/22

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