STM Article Repository

This chapter highlights the Influence of Mechanical Vibrations on the Efficiency of Highly Mounted PV Panels. The energy crisis and the climate change are leading the world to decrease the dependence on fossil fuels and increase the use of renewable. The simplest system for direct conversion of solar energy into electrical energy is the Photovoltaic (PV) panels. Dust and dirt accumulation on the panel's surface impairs the performance of the PV panel; it decreases the output power and consequently lowers the efficiency of the PV panel resulting in decreasing the performance. In the first of two experiments, the effect of increasing the mechanical vibrator's rotational speed on the vibration's amplitude was examined. It was discovered that as the rotational speed is increased, the vibration's amplitude increases, which lowers the rate at which dust accumulates. On the other hand, the influence of increasing the vibration time on the dust accumulation rate has been investigated in the second experiment. This experiment consists of three PV panels mounted on a light post; the first panel is a reference panel for comparison, while the other two panels consist of a dust shield, an antistatic hydrophilic coating and a mechanical vibrator operating for 2 min and 4 min, respectively. The percentage drop in efficiency after 6 weeks of operation in case of the reference panel and vibrating the PV panel for 2 min and 4 min, are 19.02%, 13.75% and 11.14%, respectively. It was found that increasing the vibration time from 2 to 4 min, decreases the percentage drop in efficiency by 27% and 41%, as compared to the reference panel. A further indication of the effectiveness of the vibration duration on the established dust mitigation technique on PV panels operating light posts is that the maintenance time, in cases of the 2 min and 4 min of vibrations, is one and two weeks longer than the reference panel. . It can be concluded from the conducted research that increasing the rotational speed of the mechanical vibrator increases the amplitude of vibration.