Robotic Cleaning of Solar Panels - REGlobal - Tech Talk

Solar panels, like other electrical devices, require regular maintenance for effective operation. The effectiveness of modules decreases with time as layers of dust accumulate on their surface. A household system of solar panels, which typically varies from 1 kW to 5 kW, can be manually clean­ed with a wiper or brush. How­ev­er, it can be challenging to manually clean every module on bigger commercial-scale solar projects. In this situation, there are two options for cleaning – hiring a workforce or using an automated system. Clearly, hiring a workforce is a costly and time-consuming process. This is the reason why the market share of robots that clean solar panels is rapidly rising.

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Further, large volumes of water are used in solar energy projects for cleaning panels. For developers, cleaning solar modules presents a significant issue, particularly in arid regions with limitations on water. Therefore, the solar industry is striving to shift from conventional cleaning methods to a more efficient and less wa­ter-intensive solution such as dry or robotic cleaning. Several robotic technologies have entered the market, providing a more cost-effective alternative to manual cleaning of solar panels. Some more pre­valent forms of robotic cleaning systems are module cleaning robots, driving ro­bo­ts and AI-enabled robots.

Advantages of robotic cleaning

Robotic cleaning could completely alter the cleaning industry if its adoption inc­re­a­ses, along with the solar industry’s growth in scale. Robotic cleaning pro­vides the additional advantage of re­qui­ring less human intervention, which has been a concern for solar players ow­ing to the potential danger to workers’ lives when doing manual washing.

Robotic cleaning offers the fantastic additional feature of enabling real-time performance monitoring via a central management system. To notify the operating system at the control room of any faults, ro­bo­ts send alerts. The warning then causes a modification to the cleaning motion on panels. By shifting robots from one farm to the next, operators can alter the cleaning schedule.

Robotic systems are also useful in geographies where lack of water is a serious problem, or there would be significant water wast­age. Furthermore, using groundwater for cleaning requires permission from authorities, which takes time and could delay installation. Robotic solar cleaning provides a ground-breaking, waterless app­ro­a­ch to dust removal from panels. The industry needs this solution in order to increase the penetration of solar plant ins­tallation, while decreasing its reliance on water. Given these advantages, robotic cl­e­a­ning of solar panels is catching the attention of solar plant owners.

Cleaning solutions

The manual cleaning approach is the most commonly used method of cleaning ho­usehold solar panels. The cleaning is performed with a handle connected to a water hose and a brush that does not scratch the panel. This cleaning approach exposes operators to hazards such as stair climbing and rooftop climbing. If this work is conducted by a specialised company, it would require high investment since the costs of performing this type of cleaning are usually high. However, the past few years have witnessed the rise of many different technologies for cleaning solar modules that req­uire less or no manpower. For instance, the Solarbrush UAV cleans photovoltaic (PV) panels from the air. It is a drone composed of four sets of propellers and a tail, which has a specific material to clean the panels. According to its developers, the only part of the drone that makes contact with the surface of the PV panel is its tail, which is the main advantage of using this robot, as with this feature, the chances of damaging the PV panel decrease.

The Ecoppia E4 is a fully autonomous ro­bot that uses microfibre brushes to clean dust from panels. It is designed for large rows of panels in arid or sandy locations. The robot has a PV panel and battery on board to store energy. This enables the robot to clean at night and the panel’s location near the bottom of the rail makes it possible to clean the rail itself.

Robots made by the Italian company WashPanel clean arrays of solar panels by sweeping a vertical brush across panels in a horizontal motion. Its length can range from 1 metre to16 metres. In order to mois­ten panels during cleaning, the robot has a water hose attached. The WashPanel robot includes an interface through which the washing system may be program­m­ed. It uses a battery system with an automatic load to execute the movement. Ad­di­tio­na­lly, it features an anemometer, and voltage and rain sensors.

The NO Water Mechanical Automated Du­s­ting Device (NOMADD) is a robot desig­ned specifically to remove dust build-up from desert solar panel arrays without the use of water. The NOMADD robot has certain features, in addition to not using wa­ter to clean panels, including fully automated and remote-controlled operability, the capacity to withstand harsh conditions due to its durability and the ability to clean a variety of panels.

Besides the previously described robotic cleaning techniques, non-autonomous cleaning techniques are sometimes used to maintain solar panels. There are two ways to use these non-automated appr­o­a­­ches, the first of which is using sprinklers. In dry places, sprinkler systems are frequently used to keep panels clean. It cleans the panels at a relatively low cost and has the same cleaning effect as rain.

Uptake trends

Fully automatic dry-cleaning robotic and semi-automatic robotic cleaning technologies are currently on the rise across the globe, displacing the manual variety. Fully automatic dry-cleaning robots must be taken into account while designing a solar asset. Early planning enables the asset to optimise the number of cleaning robots required and to incorporate any design requirements from the outset. This waterless cleaning method is more cost effective than wet cleaning and can even increase power generation because it minimises soiling loss.

Semi-automatic cleaning uses both robots and manual labour. When compared to fixed robots, which require many robots for each row of the PV tables, this sort of cleaning is shifted manually from one table to another, which lowers the cost. The reduction of two significant operations and maintenance costs associated with the plant once it is operational – water and labour – allows developers to increase their return on investment.

The fully automatic cleaning robot is the most efficient cleaning technique. However, a significant expenditure is necessary to completely implement this technology. Meanwhile, there is another issue in adoption of robotic technologies, that of manpower vs machines. However, contrary to common belief, this will not result in fewer em­ployment pros­pects in the sector. Instead, managing op­erations and monitoring them will call for skilled workforce.

Outlook

The use of robotic cleaning solutions is gradually gaining traction and will become more cost effective as project sizes grow larger. Utility-scale developers and operators of solar parks prefer automated clea­ning solutions since the expense of manual labour for cleaning panels increases with the project size. It might take some time before robotic cleaning totally repla­ces manual cleaning due to the low labour costs in some regions, but as the cost of these solutions falls, more developers are opting to use this innovative technology.

In addition, the dirt that is accumulated on solar panels has a direct impact on their eff­ectiveness. The panels must, therefore, be cleaned on a regular basis in order for them to function at their maximum efficie­n­cy. Due to the fact that this is a cutting-ed­ge development in the field of technologies for cleaning PV panels, a variety of cleaning products for different types of dirt have come into the market. However, dry cl­ea­ning is the most preferred alternative for solar parks, where sand and dust are pri­ma­ry sources of photon obstructi­on. Th­us, water scarcity will cause the shi­ft to wa­t­er­less robotic cleaning inevitable.

Fortunately, local governments and developers are receptive to innovation and em­bracing new technology. In the coming months, the technology will likely acquire more pace, and perhaps we will see further robotic-related innovations that will become the standard for cleaning PV modules.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of robotic solar panel cleaning solutions. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Households that install small and medium-sized solar power systems (rooftops, factory roofs, offices, buildings, etc.) should regularly (quarterly) inspect their solar panels for large amounts of dust. There is very little dust on the panel surface due to the fact that high efficiency solar panels have a dust-proof coating on the surface and are installed at an angle to reduce dust.

However, since there is often a lot of dust in nearby areas such as thermal power plants, concrete and cement plants, it is important to pay attention to inspecting and cleaning solar panels. If you find a lot of fallen leaves, bird droppings, etc. on the panel, how to clean it. Sometimes manual cleaning can be a hassle, so having a solar panel cleaning robot can make it clean and quick.

Solar panels require regular maintenance to operate effectively, and the effectiveness of the modules decreases over time as a layer of dust accumulates on their surface. Home solar panel systems typically range from 1 kW to 5 kW, like w inverter and can be cleaned manually with wipers or brushes.

However, in large-scale centralized PV projects, it is challenging to clean each module manually. In this case, there are two cleaning options – hiring labor or using an automated system. Obviously, hiring labor is an expensive and time-consuming process. This is why the market share of solar panel cleaning robot is rising rapidly.

1. The advent of solar panel cleaning robot

Use a lot of water to clean the panels for solar projects. How to clean solar panel is a major problem for developers, especially in arid regions where water is limited.

As a result, the solar industry is struggling to move from traditional cleaning methods to more efficient and less water-intensive solutions. For example, dry or robotic cleaning.

Many solar panel cleaning robot technologies have entered the market, providing a more cost-effective alternative to manual cleaning of solar panels. Some of the more prevalent forms of robotic cleaning systems are modular cleaning robots, driving robots, and AI-enabled robots.

2. Problems solved by solar panel cleaning robot

The life cycle of photovoltaic power plants is generally as long as 25 years, and because they are installed outdoors, they have to go through changes in time and environmental pollution.

For photovoltaic power plants, dust pollution is an important factor affecting power generation. Not only will it reduce the amount of light irradiated by the module, affect the efficiency of the system, and reduce power generation, but local shading will also cause the hot spot effect, cause the loss of power generation, affect the life of the module, and cause safety hazards.

Therefore, in the operation and maintenance of power plants, the cleaning of photovoltaic module is particularly important. Currently, there are three common cleaning methods:

• Manual cleaning
• Equipment semi-automatic cleaning (manual+ sweeper)
• Robot automatic cleaning

3. Advantages of solar panel cleaning robot

With the growth of the PV industry and the rapid development of artificial intelligence, robotic cleaning could completely change the cleaning industry. The solar panel cleaning robot provides excellent system integration capabilities with real-time performance monitoring through a central management system.

Any faults can be notified by the system as soon as possible. Robotic systems for solar panel cleaning are also useful in arid areas. Manual cleaning is often accompanied by significant water wastage. The solar panel cleaning robot offers a breakthrough waterless method for removing dust from panels.

The manual cleaning method is the most commonly used method for cleaning solar panels. If the work is carried out by a professional firm, it will require a high fee. Over the past few years, many robotic technologies for cleaning solar modules have emerged that require little or no human power.

4. Solar panel cleaning robot future development

The use of robotic solutions for solar panel cleaning (with 12v 100ah lithium ion batteries in it ) is gaining traction and will become more cost-effective as projects scale. Very large, centralized developers and operators prefer automated cleaning solutions because the labor cost of cleaning panels increases rapidly as the project grows in size.

Due to lower labor costs in some regions, it may take some time for solar panel cleaning robot to completely replace manual cleaning, but as the cost of these solutions decreases, more and more investors will choose this innovative technology.

In addition, the dirt that accumulates on solar panels has a direct impact on the amount of electricity generated. Therefore, it is essential to clean the panels regularly so that they operate at maximum efficiency. Various cleaning solutions for different types of dirt are currently available on the market.

However, dry cleaning is the preferred alternative for large-scale PV projects. A large number of PV projects in arid areas require a lot of water to clean, but the local water shortage will lead investors to quickly switch to robotic waterless cleaning in the future.

5. Conclusion

In the coming years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, this technology is likely to pick up pace, and we will see more innovations related to solar panel cleaning robot that will become the standard for cleaning PV modules.

As one of the main tools of intelligent operation and maintenance, solar panel cleaning robot can not only solve a series of problems existing in traditional manual cleaning, improve power generation and income, but also have a good return on investment, which effectively promotes the de-manual operation and maintenance of power stations.

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