Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Agricultural Products Process Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Assiut Branch, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.
2
Department of Agricultural Products Process Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
3
Department of Agricultural Machinery and Power Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Assiut Branch, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.
4
Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
Numerous factors, such as dust accumulation and light reflection off photovoltaic (PV) panel surfaces, adversely affect the performance and efficiency of PV solar panels. On PV panels, dust accumulation increases with time. Irradiation losses caused by dust deposition have a negative impact on PV solar panels. Regular cleaning is necessary for PV panel maintenance, but when carried out manually, it is labor-intensive. The hand-cleaning techniques use a lot of water and energy. The automated cleaning methods initially cost a lot of money and need an electrical source to function. As a result, self-cleaning techniques like hydrophobic coatings are popular since they don't require power and don't leave scratches on panels during cleaning. Since the current-voltage curve, the power-voltage curve, and the fill factor are the most indicative factors of the efficiency and performance of photovoltaic panels, the impact of hydrophobic nanocoating and dust on these factors were investigated in the present study. Results showed that the nano coating was hydrophobic and had a self-cleaning effect. After 40 days of exposure to outdoor conditions, the dust densities on reference panel (RP) and prepared nanocoated panel (PNP) before water spraying (self-cleaning) were 10 and 4.30 g/m2, while the dust densities after water spraying(self-cleaning) were 4.80 and 1.12 g/m2, respectively. The I-V curve for a clean reference panel (RP) and a prepared-nanocoated panel (PNP) showed that the short circuit current Isc was 5.69 and 5.82 A, and the open circuit voltage Voc was 20.3 and 20.7 V, respectively. The fill factor for PNP (0.7) was higher than RP (0.68). For dusty panels, the short circuit current Isc was 4.80 and 5.65 A, and the open circuit voltage Voc was 20.0 and 20.2 V, respectively. The fill factor for PNP (0.69) was higher than RP's (0.63). Based on study results, the nano coating has a positive impact on the I-V curve, P-V curve, and fill factor. That’s because of its anti-reflective and self-cleaning effect.
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