Can compressed air be used to clean and cool solar PV panels?

A full-system mathematical model of the proposed system is presented, comprised of compressed air generation and storage, panel temperature, panel cleaning, and PV power generation. Simulation results indicate the benefit of employing compressed air for cleaning and cooling solar PV panels.

How to clean solar PV panels?

The literature review on various cleaning methods of solar PV panels is given in Table 1. Currently, various methods are used for cleaning PV panels, including cleaning by the classical method using a brush, removing dust from the surface with compressed air, natural cleaning due to precipitation, and robotic cleaning systems.

How can a compressed air system reduce the efficiency of solar PV panels?

The efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is greatly reduced by panel soiling and high temperatures. A mechanism for eliminating both of these sources of inefficiencies is presented by integrating solar PV generation with a compressed air system.

Can compressed air regulate solar PV panels?

It is well recognised that dust accumulation and high temperatures result in a dramatic reduction in the performance of PV panels. To improve the efficiency of solar PV panels, a compressed air-based regulation method which can simultaneously clean and cool PV panels is studied and tested.

Does cleaning and cooling affect performance improvement of solar PV panels?

Parameters of the compressed air system. Fig. 10. Contribution of cleaning and cooling on performance improvement of a solar PV panel. From the energy perspective, power consumption for producing the compressed air needs to be compared to the energy gain from the PV modules by the cleaning and cooling effects.

How to reduce dust on solar PV panel surface?

It is concluded that the increased harvest of solar energy by designing an automatic robotic dry cleaning system to minimize the dust on the surface of the solar PV panel. A new type of brush has been produced for the developed cleaning device, which is low cost and does not damage the PV panel surface ( Parrott et al., 2018 ).