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research article

Field test and electrode optimization of electrodynamic cleaning systems for solar panels

Faes, Antonin  
•
Petri, Delphine
•
Champliaud, Jonathan
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September 13, 2019
Progress In Photovoltaics

Soiling is the major cause of power loss of photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) in desert areas. Electrodynamic cleaning system (EDS) is an automatic and water-free integrated cleaning system for mirrors or solar panels, which uses pulsed electric fields to remove dust off their surface. The first EDS field test over a long period on PV modules is reported here and shows a clear effect on soiling reduction in real conditions in Saudi Arabia. A total of 458 days of measurements is analyzed, and depending on the considered periods, performance losses due to soiling (soiling rate) can vary from -0.06%/day to -0.41%/day for a reference module, while the relative soiling rate reduction using an EDS can be up to 95.7% with an average of 32.1%. Cost calculations demonstrate an added value of the modules equipped with the EDS between 2.6 and 5.2 & xa2;/Wp compared with usual cleaning system, which is nearly between 10% and 20% of the module price. In addition, extended indoor tests of various electrode designs of EDS for heliostat dedicated to CSP or PV applications show a high cleaning efficiency of up to 98% with front glass thickness of more than 1 mm. A good specular reflectivity, only 4% lower than the bare reference mirror, is obtained with patterned sputtered silver in a spiral electrode design. High reliability of two types of electrode deposition is demonstrated after 200 cycles between -40 degrees C and +85 degrees C.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/pip.3176
Web of Science ID

WOS:000486290600001

Author(s)
Faes, Antonin  
Petri, Delphine
Champliaud, Jonathan
Geissbuehler, Jonas
Badel, Nicolas
Levrat, Jacques  
Roustom, Bahaa
Hessler-Wyser, Aicha  
Wyrsch, Nicolas  
Ballif, Christophe  
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Date Issued

2019-09-13

Publisher

WILEY

Published in
Progress In Photovoltaics
Volume

27

Issue

11

Start page

1020

End page

1033

Subjects

Energy & Fuels

•

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

•

Physics, Applied

•

Materials Science

•

Physics

•

eds

•

electrodynamic cleaning system

•

field test

•

soiling

•

solar electricity

•

dust removal

•

mitigation

•

shield

•

liquid

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

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PV-LAB  
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October 3, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/161779
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