Solar panel cleaning robot

  Why we need this project? Energy is one of the major issues that the world is facing .The supply of energy has been one of the major problems for world. About 60% to 70% of the energy demand of the Pakistan is met by fuel wood and agriculture residues. Solar energy is a renewable source of en

Project Title

Solar panel cleaning robot

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

  Why we need this project? Energy is one of the major issues that the world is facing .The supply of energy has been one of the major problems for world. About 60% to 70% of the energy demand of the Pakistan is met by fuel wood and agriculture residues. Solar energy is a renewable source of energy, which has a great potential and it is radiated by the sun. Renewable energy is important to replace the using of electric energy generated by petroleum. Solar power has become a source of renewable energy and solar energy application should be enhanced. The solar PV modules are generally employed in dusty environments in Pakistan specifically in deserts. So the dust of dessert gets accumulated on the front surface of the module and blocks the incident light from the sun. It reduces the power generation capacity of the module. The power output reduces as much as by 50% if the module is not cleaned for a month. The cleaning system has been designed cleans the module by controlling the Arduino programming. To remove the dust in the PV modules to improving the power efficiency.

  We make slightly different system from typical systems because in our system only brushes make contact with the front surface of panel instead of whole system and other part of system will be on surface to safe the panels from scratching and breaking. The surface part that takes the whole system move in all directions by using the technique of line follower and after identifying the panel it will clean the panel and when the infrared sensor sense the surface the brushes stop working and it remains stop until the other panel identified.

A cleaning robot is developed and features a versatile platform which travels the entire length of a power plant. An Arduino microcontroller is used to implement robots control system. The robot will provide a favorable result. In conclusion, it is found that robotic cleaning can help in maintain the solar panel efficiency.

Project Objectives

The solar panel cleaning robot has the following objectives:-

• It will clean the large number of solar panels in a field which reduces the human labor.
• To save the labor cost.
• To save the time.
• It is highly efficient as it cleans large number of panels on single charging time.
• It is a single time investment.
• To avoid wastage of water.
• To avoid the loss of energy caused by the dirty/muddy surface of solar panel.
• To clean the surface of solar panel without affecting its surface.

Project Implementation Method

We make slightly different system from typical systems because in our system only brushes make contact with the front surface of panel instead of whole system and other part of system will be on surface to safe the panels from scratching and breaking.

The surface part that takes the whole system move in all directions by using the technique of line follower using Infrared sensor and we also use infrared sensor on rolling brushes part of the panel to identify whether it is surface or Solar panel after identifying the panel it move downward some inches and clean the panel and when the infrared sensor sense the surface the brushes stop working and roller remains stop until the other panel identified. 

Benefits of the Project

• The robot uses sensors to recognize the size of each PV installation
• With the innovative technique of the rotating brush and robot, the same pressure is always exerted on the surface to be cleaned. The result? Solar panels that are completely clean.
• The robot also moves quite quickly over the solar panel surface to be cleaned. In ideal circumstances it can clean 400 m2 of solar panels per hour. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

ARDUINO UNO:

The Arduino UNO is an open-source microcontroller board based on the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by Arduino .The board is equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to various expansion boards and other circuits. The board has 14 Digital pins, 6 Analog pins, and programmable with the Arduino.

Specification:

• Microchip ATmega328P
• Operating Voltage: 5 Volts
• Input Voltage: 7 to 20 Volts
• Analog Input Pins: 6

12V 45 RPM MOTOR:

A Geared DC Motor is made by attaching a gear assembly to an ordinary DC motor. This will increase the torque by decreasing the speed of motor. The speed of motor is counted in terms of RPM, rotations of shaft per minute. This motor is geared down to 45RPM and will provide torque about 2.7kgcm.

Specification:

• SDC supply: 4 to 12V
• RPM: 45 at 12V
• No Load Current: 50mA at 12V
• Load Current = 300mA(max) at 12V

IR SENSORS:

The IR sensor module consists mainly of the IR Transmitter and Receiver, Operating amplifier, Variable Resistor and output LED. The variable resistor used here is a preset. It is used to calibrate the distance range at which object should be detected.

Specification:

• 5V DC Operating voltage
• I/O pins are 5V
• Adjustable Sensing range
• 20mA supply current

210:1 MICRO METAL GEAR MOTOR 12V:

This gear motor is a miniature high-power, 12 V brushed DC motor with long-life carbon brushes and a 210.59:1 metal gearbox. It has a cross section of 10 × 12 mm, and the D-shaped gearbox output shaft is 9 mm long and 3 mm in diameter.

Specification:

HIGH TORQUE DC SERVO MOTOR 10RPM WITH STEP/DIR DRIVE:

        This Encoder DC Servo motor solution integrates 0.2deg resolution optical encoder and a high power electronic servo drive.

Specification:

  It supports STEP/PULSE and DIRECTION digital inputs that are opto-isolated. The Motor is Industrial grade 10RPM high torque motor with a massive torque of 120kgcm in small size.

• 10RPM 12V DC motors with Metal Gearbox and Metal Gears
• 18000 RPM base motor

Encoder and Drive Specifications:

• Direct replacement for 50W stepper motor and drive
• 0.2deg resolution optical encoder integrated on motor output shaft
• High-Current DC Servo motor driver integrated with the motor
• Fixed stepping of 1800 steps per rotation on output shaft
• 2.5V, 3.3V and 5V compatible.

Gear ratio:

No-load speed @ 12V:

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Type of Industry

IT , Energy

Technologies

Artificial Intelligence(AI), Robotics

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com