Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Design and Performance Evaluation of Photovoltaic Systems with Automatic Dust Wiper in a Natural Dusty Environment

Armstrong O. Njok, Nsed A. Akonjom, Julie C. Ogbulezie

Asian Journal of Physical and Chemical Sciences · pp. 1–15 · Published 30 Nov 2022

10.9734/ajopacs/2022/v10i4186

Abstract

The accumulation of dust on solar panels affects the transmittance of solar panel glazing which leads to the degradation of its efficiency due to low levels of irradiance reaching the cells. In this work, the response of polycrystalline silicon solar panels toward dust in a natural dusty environment was experimentally investigated at a location in Calabar close to the Calabar river. The experimental measurements were carried out in real-time outdoor conditions where human activities take place. An automatic dust wiping/cleaning mechanism to ensure the panel surface was kept clean was deployed in the study. An intelligent maximum power point (MPP) trackers for tracking the maximum power points of the panels were also utilized for this work. Results obtained revealed that the accumulation of dust on polycrystalline solar panel adversely affects its power output and efficiency. From the results, it was also revealed that the average panel temperature of the photovoltaic system with the automatic dust wiping mechanism was 5.300C lower than the other system without the mechanism. This lower panel temperature led to an increase of 16%, 32.5%, 43.40% and 43.37% in average voltage, average current, average power and average efficiency respectively over the dusty panel. It was demonstrated that solar panel efficiency plummets as panel temperature rises due to heat dissipation caused by the accumulation of dust.

Dust shade automatic dust-wiping mechanism maximum power point solar panel efficiency

References (29)

  1. 1 Solar power technologies for sustainable electricity generation – A review [DOI]
  2. 2 Experimental investigation of the impact of airborne dust deposition on the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules [DOI]
  3. 3 Experimental study on the effect of dust deposition on solar photovoltaic panels in desert environment [DOI]
  4. 4 Impact of dust on the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems under United Arab Emirates weather conditions [DOI]
  5. 5 Environmental Impacts on the Performance of Solar Photovoltaic Systems [DOI]
  6. 6 Fundamental studies on dust fouling effects on PV module performance [DOI]
  7. 7 Experimental investigation of dust deposition effects on photo-voltaic output performance [DOI]
  8. 8 Simulating the dust effect on the energy performance of photovoltaic generators based on experimental measurements [DOI]
  9. 9 Effect of dust pollutant type on photovoltaic performance [DOI]
  10. 10 Dust accumulation effects on efficiency of solar PV modules for off grid purpose: A case study of Kathmandu [DOI]
  11. 11 Influence of Dirt Accumulation on Performance of PV Panels [DOI]
  12. 12 Effects of particle sizes and tilt angles on dust deposition characteristics of a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system [DOI]
  13. 13 A comprehensive review of future photovoltaic systems [DOI]
  14. 14 Experimental investigation of dust deposition reduction on solar cell covering glass by different self-cleaning coatings [DOI]
  15. 15 An analysis of the dust deposition on solar photovoltaic modules [DOI]
  16. 16 Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review [DOI]
  17. 17 Structural and physical properties of the dust particles in Qatar and their influence on the PV panel performance [DOI]
  18. 18 The effect of dust with different morphologies on the performance degradation of photovoltaic modules [DOI]
  19. 19 A simple and low‐cost active dual‐axis solar tracker [DOI]
  20. 20 Prediction of dust particle size effect on efficiency of photovoltaic modules with ANFIS: An experimental study in Aegean region, Turkey [DOI]
  21. 21 Effects of Natural Dust on the Performance of PV Panels in Bangladesh [DOI]
  22. 22 Experimental investigation of dust pollutants and the impact of environmental parameters on PV performance: an experimental study [DOI]
  23. 23 The Study of Dust Removal Using Electrostatic Cleaning System for Solar Panels [DOI]
  24. 24 Performance of a PV panel under different shading strengths [DOI]
  25. 25 Effects of Some Meteorological Parameters on Wind Energy Potential in Calabar, Nigeria [DOI]
  26. 26 Crystalline Silicon PV Module Under Effect of Shading Simulation of the Hot-Spot Condition [DOI]
  27. 27 The influence of solar power and solar flux on the efficiency of polycrystalline photovoltaics installed close to a river [DOI]
  28. 28 Evaluation of the Performance of Photovoltaic System under different Wavelengths from Artificial Light in a Controlled Environment [DOI]
  29. 29 Diurnal analysis of enhanced solar photovoltaic systems using automatic cooling mechanism [DOI]

Cited by 7

Design and Implementation of a Waterless Solar Panel Cleaning System

Charity M. Nkinyam, C. Ujah, Kingsley C. Nnakwo · Unconventional Resources · 2024

Performance of a PV module as influenced by deposition of desert dust with consideration of “Thermophoresis” in dust layer

Reham Kamal, Mazen Abdel-Salam, M. Nayel · International Middle East Power Systems Conference · 2023

Influence of Manual Cleaning on the Thermal Behavior of Photovoltaic Modules

José Janiere S. de Souza, Leticia O. Santos, Paulo C. M. Carvalho · IEEE Access · 2025

Showing 4 of 7 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

31

Page views

0

PDF downloads

5

Outbound clicks

7

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.