10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Effect of Dust Loading on Cleaning of Solar Panels by Electrodynamics
JOSHUA UDVARDY, Jennifer Chesnnutt, Bing Guo, Chang Yu Wu, University of Florida
Abstract Number: 970 Working Group: Control and Mitigation
Abstract As dust collects on the surface of solar panels, the amount of irradiance reaching the solar cells decreases, which decreases the electricity output of the solar panel. A proposed efficient and cost-effective solution is an electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) that transports dust off the panel by electrodynamic waves. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of dust loading on the dust removal efficiency of an EDS. An in-house computer code (discrete element method) was used to simulate the transport, collision, and adhesion of charged dust particles subject to two-phase waves on a tilted EDS. Dust removal efficiency was defined as the percentage of dust removed in terms of mass and number of particles. Three different mass loadings of dust particles were simulated, which represented the amounts of dust accumulated on the panel during 1, 4, and 16 days without cleaning, based on 1-day dust accumulation in summer months in Doha, Qatar. Mass and particle removal by percentage was lowest for all simulations for the 1-day dust accumulation case (minimum 11% lower). Mass removal by percentage was considerably similar between cases with 4- and 16-day particle accumulation (minimum 2.3% difference). Although mass removal between these two different loadings was similar by percentage, the mass of particles remaining on the solar panel with the 16-day accumulation case (minimum 723 mg/m2) was larger than that of the 4-day accumulation case (minimum 563 mg/m2), leaving more particles that would result in a lower amount of irradiance reaching the solar cells. Further investigation in the future could analyze the efficiency of particle removal in terms of percent area of the solar panel covered by dust particles after EDS operation.