A new intelligent system design for cleaning the photovoltaic solar panel surface

Authors : Mümtaz Mutluer, Abdurrahim Erat

Pages : 8-16

Doi:10.31593/ijeat.507861

View : 13 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2019-03-25

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Nowadays electricity is generated by solar energy through photovoltaic solar cells and the system efficiency developed in this direction is being investigated. The efficiency of the photovoltaic panels used to transform solar energy into electricity is utmost importance. Dusting, equipment which are used for photovoltaic systems (DC conductors, inverter, panel interior design, etc.), shadowing, amount of radiation and many other factors affect to the efficiency of photovoltaic panels. Some of these are resolved in the installation of the system, while others are changed over time. For a good efficiency of the system during operation, at bottom, photovoltaic panel surface must be kept clean and so it can be absorb more effective solar radiation. The surface cleaning is empiric in many studies which manual or automatic; it can actually be by an intelligent system. In this study, an intelligent cleaning system based on fuzzy logic with arduino microcontroller was designed to automatically clean the photovoltaic panel surfaces. Thanks to the membership functions of the fuzzy logic as temperature, shadowing, dusting and output current of the panel, the designed system is enabled to operate efficiently. Two membership functions of each of these input functions have been determined. Detailed information about the membership functions of the inputs of the system is given in the system design section. These membership functions decide whether the system will be activated or not. The design purpose is to minimize the efficiency losses due to dusting and dirt on the panel surface and to allow for maximum electrical energy production. As a result, without waiting for the cleaning period, the loss of energy production is eliminated and the efficiency was increased by 15-20 percent.
Keywords : Arduino, Fuzzy Logic, PV Panel Cleaning, PV Panel Efficiency, Solar Energ