Smart Robot For Cleaning Solar Panels
The solar panel cleaning coupled with dust accumulation, the dust accumulation is one of the main reason for needing of solar panels cleaning. Dust accumulation have an effect on the productivity of solar panels, dust storm can lead a 40% reduction in the efficiency of the panels and average accumul
2025-06-28 16:35:41 - Adil Khan
Smart Robot For Cleaning Solar Panels
Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject SummaryThe solar panel cleaning coupled with dust accumulation, the dust accumulation is one of the main reason for needing of solar panels cleaning. Dust accumulation have an effect on the productivity of solar panels, dust storm can lead a 40% reduction in the efficiency of the panels and average accumulation of dust leads to a compounding increase of 2% per week or more. In order to regularly clean the dust, an automatic cleaning system is needed which removes the dust from the solar panels.
Project Objectives- Design a system which clean the solar panel and save the loss of power.
- Design a cleaning system that continue running over the length of the panel.
- Increase the solar panel efficiency
- To avoid manual work and reduce the labor cost
- To clean the solar panel effectively
- To avoid dust associated problems on solar panels.
In our project we will introduce the idea of special robot for solar cleaning, specialized in clean solar cell from dirt accumulation as well as to reduce the power loses.
Solar cleaning robot can be used without need for human intervention to speed up the work in the large solar farms. The robot will move in the tracks that are mounted on the solar panel structure.
This robot consists of two frames one is body frame which move horizontally and the other one is the robot frame which consist of soft brushes and move vertically.the cleaning of solar panel is done schedully by the timers on daily basis, the body frame motors will start operating and reach on the solar panels, as it reaches on the panel the robot frame motor starts with the brushes motors and clean goes up and down. When robot will complete the one column then frame will move towards another column and repeat the same process. When the frame motor will reach at the end of the panel then the limit switch will operate and reverse the frame motors for wet cleaning. For water cleaning we are going to use wiper with water spray that will clean the all panel. This system will work automatically and we will design its circuit on printed circuit board (PCB) and also will simulate it on proteus.
Benefits of the Project- It will increase the efficiency of solar panel.
- It will increase life of solar plate.
- It will reduce the cleaning cost of cleaning system.
- It will reduce the labor cost.
- It will reduce the time of cleaning system
- It will remove dust particles.
Solar Panels are generally cleaned by human interference but it is quite tedious as well as time consuming and ultimately is not much effective. Hence, designing and developing an automated system for cleaning the panels is significantly imperative to be implemented. The components are micro controller (L293D-ARDUINO), DC Motor with a motor driver, solid state relay, RTC (real time clock). L293D is a typical Motor driver or Motor Driver IC which allows DC motor to drive on either direction. L293D is a 16-pin IC which can control a set of two DC motors simultaneously in any direction. It means that we can control two DC motor with a single L293D IC. Dual H-bridge Motor Driver integrated circuit (IC). It works on the concept of H-bridge. H-bridge is a circuit which allows the voltage to be flown in either direction. As we know voltage needs to change its direction for being able to rotate the motor in clockwise or anticlockwise direction, Hence H-bridge ICs are ideal for driving a DC motor. In a single L293D chip there are two h-Bridge circuit inside the IC which can rotate two dc motor independently.
When supply is given to the micro controller it drives the motor with the help of the motor driver circuit. The motor starts rotating in the forward and backward direction as commanded by the micro controller using rack & pinion linear mechanism. The micro controller is a timer based and can be programmed as per the desired interval of time required for cleaning. Therefore it is mandatory to determine the amount of dust which will be accumulated on the panels at a specific location prior installing the system and according to the site survey results the interval for cleaning the module can also be programmed or changed. The cleaning interval can also vary with respect to the seasons along with the geographic locations.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemType of Industry Others Technologies RoboticsSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 70300 | |||
| Solar panel | Equipment | 1 | 12000 | 12000 |
| Frame | Equipment | 3 | 4000 | 12000 |
| Dc motor | Equipment | 6 | 500 | 3000 |
| Arduino | Equipment | 2 | 1000 | 2000 |
| Brushes | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Battery | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| wheels | Equipment | 4 | 300 | 1200 |
| pully | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| wiper | Equipment | 1 | 1000 | 1000 |
| water pump | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| timer | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| relay module | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| H bridge | Equipment | 2 | 800 | 1600 |
| limit switch | Equipment | 4 | 500 | 2000 |
| proximity sensor | Equipment | 4 | 500 | 2000 |
| multimeter | Equipment | 1 | 1200 | 1200 |
| Bread board PCB board | Equipment | 2 | 750 | 1500 |
| Battery carger | Equipment | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| soldering iron and wires | Equipment | 2 | 500 | 1000 |
| Nozzels | Equipment | 2 | 500 | 1000 |
| Gear setup | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Rubber pipe | Equipment | 4 | 500 | 2000 |
| proposal printout | Miscellaneous | 3 | 100 | 300 |
| mid report and presentation copies | Miscellaneous | 5 | 200 | 1000 |
| final copies | Miscellaneous | 5 | 500 | 2500 |
| stationary | Miscellaneous | 4 | 250 | 1000 |