Authors:
Arezki Abderrahim Chellal
1
;
2
;
José Lima
2
;
3
;
Ana Isabel Pereira
4
;
2
and
Paulo Costa
5
;
3
Affiliations:
1
Higher School in Applied Sciences of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria
;
2
Research Centre of Digitalization and Intelligent Robotics CeDRI, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
;
3
Robotics and Intelligent Systems Research Group, INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal
;
4
ALGORITMI Center, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
;
5
Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, DEEC, Porto, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, Solar Energy, Data Analytics and Simulation, Digital Image Processing, Efficiency Increase.
Abstract:
The accumulation of dust particles on the solar panels decrease the total amount of solar energy received by the Photovoltaic panel (PV) and, it has also been proven that the increase of temperature reduces the overall efficiency. These effects have been studied by different researchers based on collected data comparison. As both of these parameters have a negative effect on the efficiency of the solar panel, it is essential to keep them clean and at low temperatures. The use of technologies, such as robots, is an effective way of carrying out repetitive tasks at low cost and in a short time. This work consists of developing a robot capable of cleaning and cooling the solar panels, based on images acquired through a camera positioned directly towards the panels, thus maintaining periodic cleaning in order to increase its efficiency. The preliminary results demonstrate the possibility of using this approach for the accomplishment of this task.