An Intelligent Cleaning Robot for Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

Project Title

An Intelligent Cleaning Robot for Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject Summary

An Intelligent Cleaning Robot for Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

The Solar Panel has a huge impact on our planet. It can help our environment to be better without using other power plants that can harm the environment, but the solar power plant needs to be cleaned at least weekly but will also cost a lot of hard work. Environmental Dust is increasing day by day, also affecting solar panels giving us the necessary energy, but due to solar panel dust, we are unable to get our required Provision. Many solar power plants use conventional solar cleaners to maintain their systems. It consumes a lot of water which has become quite rare. More workers are needed and there are more dangers in working with standard cleaning methods while the Solar industry operates even at night. The cleaning efficiency is also very low compared to Dry robotic cleaning that cleans the whole PV plant daily which is not possible in wet cleaning. Better cleaning performance is achieved with an independent robots system for cleaning the solar panel.

The dust particles that accumulate in the solar panels will prevent the sun's energy from reaching the solar cells, thus reducing energy production. Power output is greatly reduced by 50 percent, if the module can be cleaned by a month. To regularly clean the dust, an automatic cleaning system that removes dust from the solar panel is upgraded. In this paper, the problem is reviewed and discussed how to remove the dust. The robot cleaning tool is upgraded and runs across the length of the panel. The robot has given a good result and proved that such a system works by making the robot cleaner possible, thus helping the solar panel to maintain its efficiency. As our motto is to increase the efficiency of solar panels and their life dust is something that interferes with the sun's rays to provide high emissions. Our technology ensures no damage to the photovoltaic panel. Indeed, the brush material is very soft and is preferred to avoid any risk of scratching. In addition, the weight of the robot is evenly distributed by the brushes themselves. Also Robotic rendering is required, so we want to charge a battery that can use the Robot our first step was to make the line follow the Robot, we successfully found that and made a Path to follow the robot in a given area of ??PV Panel and attach Brushes will clean the panel dust and thus -Solar Robot can increase up to 40 percent efficiency by cleaning dust. When we first started designing a cleaning robot, we focused on efficiency and ease of use. The goal was to ensure a dry cleaning program. It will be an automatic robot that makes it easier to clean by placing more solar panels. It will be easier to use and the robot solar battery also helps with longer operation and also it our Robot is very friendly with our environment and easy to operate.

Keywords:Solar Photovoltaic, Robot, Dust Effects, Efficiency improvement Sustainable Solution, Solar Cleaning

Project Objectives

1. Design a solar panel cleaning Robot which can increase the efficiency of solar panels.

2. Make the cleaning of solar panels simple and automated.

3. Reduce human intervention.

4. A cleaning system that does not affect the quality of the original solar panel.

5. An environmentally friendly cleaning system.

6.The proposed solar panel cleaning robot is used to remove the dirt and dust deposited on the solar panel thus helping the solar panel to absorb the maximum quantity of energy.

7.The main criterion of the cleaning system design is its ability to clean multiple panels in a
solar farm using a single robot. Such a system is considerably much simpler than having
multiple robots in the same farm working simultaneously.

Project Implementation Method

-First of all we implemented LFR as we can detect the working of IR sensor at recommended path.

-Afterthat we worked on edge detecting robot as that robot can detect the edge of surface of solar panel.

-We programmed edged detecting robot on random path.Now we will program the robot that can move at complete x and y axis of solar panel accordingly.

-Next step is machenical work that how much heavy our robot should be and that will not damage the upper layer of solar panel.

-Selected tyres and motor will be used for robot which will save from damaging the solar panel as It can move easily at surface of Panel.

-Than we will add roller and brushes for cleaning purpose. All the curcitoary will be command from Aurduino and sense by IR sensors. Motors, Aurduino sensors and other equipments will be operate from battery. 

-DC battery will change from the solar panel which will designed at surface of Robot.

Benefits of the Project

-Pollution, dust, bird dropping, leaves prevent sunlight from reaching to panels and reduces the efficency of solar panels upto 30%.

-At peak time when temperature is high It is remmoneded to cool the panels so that It prevents from cracks. Man power consumes more time to clean the panels and It is also dangerous for human to clean the panels at the peak time, With the help of solar robot It consumes less time to clean and It also safe the humans life.

-For large solar power plant, A large number of trained man power required but with the robotic system there is no any human intervention and less maintaince is required.

-It is good to clean your solar panels daily, with man power It requires more time and It is quite difficult to clean it daily but with the help of robot It is easy to clean and consumes less time.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

-We have used soft roller brush to clean the panels and soft wheels so that It can not damage the panels.

-We have used 12V mini solar panel to power the robot additionally we used dry battery for backup.

-Additionally we have used a buzzer when robot completes its cleaning a buzzer will sound which alert the person that cleaning work is done.

-We have used servo motor to clean the mini solar panel so that It delievers the maximum power to  robotic motors.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other IndustriesCore Technology RoboticsOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	79400
DC Gear Motor	Equipment	6	3500	21000
IR sensors	Equipment	4	1000	4000
Motor driver	Equipment	2	3000	6000
Servo motor	Equipment	2	1000	2000
Solar battery 12V	Equipment	1	8000	8000
Water pipes	Equipment	12	500	6000
Rubber tyres	Equipment	6	1500	9000
Cleaning roller brush	Equipment	3	1800	5400
Nut and bolts	Miscellaneous	50	100	5000
wires	Miscellaneous	3	500	1500
glue	Miscellaneous	3	500	1500
Acrylic sheet	Miscellaneous	2	1000	2000
Mini solar panel 12V	Equipment	1	8000	8000