Developing a smart automated cleaning design system for the floating solar panels
The constant increase in energy demand, the depletion of fossil fuels and the concern to have more eco-friendly and sustainable earth made people focus more on renewable energy sources. The solar power is one such energy resource with several advantages over other forms of electricity generation,...
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| Format: | Theses and Dissertations |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76090 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | The constant increase in energy demand, the depletion of fossil fuels and the
concern to have more eco-friendly and sustainable earth made people focus more on
renewable energy sources. The solar power is one such energy resource with several
advantages over other forms of electricity generation, but the requirement of land, its
scarcity and cost causing a major issue. In that context, floating solar power plants
seems to be a viable option as these are installed in any water bodies. Deploying
floating solar panels in water can increase the efficiency by up to 10 % than the land
solar panels. At the same time, the shades of the solar panels can reduce the
evaporation of water by up to 70%. The major problem with floating solar panels is the
deposition of bird’s dirt on the surface of the panel which might reduce the efficiency
of the solar panel considerably and it will degrade the solar panel quality. It is tedious
to clean the panel regularly by manual methods, so there is a greater need for some
smart and automated means of maintaining the panels to keep it free from dirt. The
objective of the thesis is to develop an environmental friendly self-cleaning system
particularly for floating solar panels is proposed, and a scaled prototype model with the
automated cleaning system has been demonstrated in land and developed. The bird’s
dirt settled on the floating solar panel are being identified by continuous monitoring of
the solar panel power and by using a drone-based Image processing for identifying dirt
on the solar panel. Then the detected bird’s dirt is removed using pressured water
projected from the water jet nozzle. After cleaning, the power of the solar panel is
compared with the power which is monitored before cleaning the panel and the result
was moreover similar which confirms that the efficiency of the solar panel is retrieved.
Keywords: Floating solar, bird’s dirt, self-cleaning system, water jet nozzle, power
monitoring, image processing |
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