The new robot for cleaning solar panels will improve their efficiency
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Deserts, which serve as a rather strong source of sunlight, are an optimal place for the construction of solar power plants and the production of electricity.
However, in such arid places are also quite dusty, which presents certain problems for the operation of solar panels. Owners of solar energy systems have long needed new technologies that would enable them to effectively remove dust and dirt from solar panels for more efficient operation. Contaminated panels lose an average of 0.6% efficiency, and after dust storms - about 60%.
However, cleaning the solar panels in desert conditions, where there is an acute shortage of water, is rather difficult. In addition, considerable human resources are required to clean the panels, but in arid conditions, where the air temperature can rise to 50 ° C during the day , the use of such labor is problematic.
In Saudi Arabia, experts have developed a special automated device - a robot that can remove dust without using water.
Small robots must be installed on the panels along the rails. A special automated device moves along the panel at least once a day and cleans it using a special brush, which was specially designed for solar panels in such a way that during cleaning no additional use of water was required, and also to avoid damaging the surface of the solar panel.
The automated device has a number of advantages in comparison with manual cleaning, which can be carried out once a week. A clean solar panel works more efficiently and produces more energy. One such robot can remove dust and dirt from a panel length of 182 meters. In addition, the developers plan to upgrade the device, which will improve the efficiency of the device and the device will be able to clean the panel to 274 meters in length.
Each row of solar panels has its own robot. Despite the fact that the automated device is small in size, cleaning of the huge area of the power plant takes almost as much time as traditional manual cleaning.
As noted by the developers, the advantage of their development is that they were developed in the country in which almost everybody knows about the conditions of work in the desert. According to the authors themselves, the new technology can pay off in three years, and the device itself is able to work without problems in difficult conditions with minimal maintenance. The robot was produced and tested in Saudi Arabia specifically for work in arid regions. According to specialists, the main advantage of their development is that the device could be tested directly in arid conditions during operation.
Many specialists are concerned with the problem of cleaning solar panels. Recently, Israeli experts have developed a technology with a similar principle of work, and in Israel scientists are working on a self-cleaning system of solar panels.