10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Development of Electrodynamic Dust Shield Technology for Solar Energy Applications
BING GUO, Wasim Javed, Benjamin Figgis, Texas A&M University at Qatar
Abstract Number: 1198 Working Group: Control and Mitigation
Abstract In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, efforts of utilizing the abundant supply of solar energy can be significantly hampered by soiling of solar panels or mirrors due to dust accumulation. Electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) is a technology using electrodynamic activation to repel dust particles accumulated on a surface, which has been proposed for mitigation of soiling. In the past two years, we have carried out laboratory experiments and field tests to investigate the feasibility of this technology. In laboratory studies, we have found the dust removal efficiency to be dependent on dust loading, dielectric cover thickness and other factors. The dust removal efficiency may decrease to very low levels when the dust loading is low, or when the EDS is run in the cyclic-operation mode. Our field tests, run in the cyclic-operation mode, have shown that EDS prototypes can maintain a dust removal efficiency of approximately 14%, which in theory could still result in significant soiling mitigation benefits. Our field test of EDS-integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) modules has recently begun, and produced some very interesting results. In this presentation, we will give an overview of these results and discuss research needs in the very near future.