Qatari researchers have seemed on the diploma to which cleansing robots might threaten the bodily integrity of photo voltaic panels. They discovered that cleansing machines have a really minimal influence and that modules of comparable sizes are inclined to exhibit roughly the identical quantity of vibration.
Scientists on the Qatar Setting and Power Analysis Institute (QEERI), a part of Hamad Bin Khalifa College (HBKU), have tried to evaluate the mechanical stress to which photo voltaic modules are uncovered throughout robotic cleansing operations.
“One particular concern is vibration – how a lot do the modules shake as a robotic brushes them,” researcher Ben Figgis informed pv journal. “We discovered that the important thing issue was how giant the modules have been and that, no matter variations in glass thickness and framing, modules with comparable sizes tended to exhibit roughly the identical quantity of vibration.”
The examine identifies the threshold of deflection at which photo voltaic cell injury can happen. The scientists arrange an experimental setting on the QEERI testing facility in Doha and ran a number of assessments on 5 crystalline silicon panels and on a thin-film module primarily based on copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) tech. All the panels have been south-oriented and mounted in panorama orientation, with a tilt angle of twenty-two levels.
“The modules had numerous body thicknesses, so to realize the identical top of the module higher floor spacers have been added beneath the frames of some modules, on the clamps,” they defined. “The thin-film CIGS, module F, was mounted with clamps on vertical metallic profiles, additionally bringing its entrance floor to the identical top as the opposite modules.”
For his or her experiments, the lecturers used a linear rotating dry-brush robotic offered by Saudi producer Nomadd Desert Photo voltaic Options. “The vibration results noticed on this examine are explicit to the robotic used, and different robots are prone to produce completely different vibrations,” they warned. “Every module was measured thrice, i.e. with three robotic passes in a single path, on non-windy days.”
The analysis group discovered that displacements of the modules from their impartial place, or deflection magnitudes, beneath robotic cleansing have been “very small” for all panels.
“There was reasonable consistency within the severity and variety of vibrations over the three robotic passes that have been carried out for every module,” they stated, noting that the robotic doesn’t pose a risk to the modules. “General, it appears the principle consider a module’s vibration amplitude is its measurement.”
The scientists additionally decided that an hour of robust wind made the panels vibrate greater than when uncovered to the cleansing robotic.
“This reinforces the sooner conclusion that this explicit robotic appears unlikely to be a threat for flexing-related PV module degradation, as a result of pure wind has a stronger affect;” they stated.
They introduced their findings in “PV module vibration by robotic cleaning,” which was not too long ago printed in Photo voltaic Power.
