Volume 7, Issue 7, July – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165

Design and Development of Solar Panel Cleaning Bot

Nagesh Kumar
Assistant Professor
Department of E & CE
Jyothy Institute of Technology
Bengaluru ,India

Prajwal GS Shetty Vishnu Rakshith P

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Jyothy Institute of Technology Jyothy Institute of Technology
Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India

Rakesh S Yashas G
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Jyothy Institute of Technology Jyothy Institute of Technology
Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India

Abstract:- The most prevalent renewable energy source Energy loss among users nowadays might range between
that doesn't harm the environment when produced 25% and 30%. The time it takes for an investment to pay off
utilizing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is sunlight. Due to can significantly increase if solar panels are unclean. The
the solar panel's azimuth angle, the PV panel's efficiency soiling impact for concentrated PV (CPV) modules
is dependent on the amount of light that strikes it. Dust demonstrates effectiveness. For one of the facilities that had
buildup on the PV panel lowers the efficiency of the energy losses of 6.9 percent after a year of exposure without cleaning,
produced. The PV panel must occasionally be cleaned in the systems were cleaned utilising a pressurised distilled water
order to boost efficiency. The solar panel cleaning robot spray combined with brushing. Dust particles accumulating on
suggested in this study cleans PV panels on a regular basis. the surface lower efficiency and make it difficult to clean the
The panel's surface is cleaned by spraying a water and PV panel affordably and effectively. This makes it difficult to
removing dust with a roller brush. Bluetooth is used to increase the PV cell efficiency by incremental numbers.
control the suggested robot. The suggested solution uses
robotic cleaning to boost the power generation's efficiency PV panels can be cleaned actively (manually or
on a regular basis. automatically), passively (using natural processes like wind,
gravity, rain, and dew to remove dust), or both. For large-scale
Keywords:- Solar, Photo, Voltaic, robot, plant, PV. solar PV plants, a robotic system for cleaning photovoltaic
panel arrays was created. The price of PV cells and voltage
I. INTRODUCTION changes in PV modules are two reasons that are restricting the
use of PV technology. Solar panel cleaning is not always that
Over the past ten years, the solar Photo-voltaic (PV) easy, though. The accessibility issue is the first to be
industry has experienced substantial growth as a result of the addressed. It may be challenging to physically wash solar
rising need for renewable energy. as photovoltaic technology is panels since they are frequently situated in risky and
readily available. It is becoming a typical investment for both challenging locations, and it takes time to do it safely. Second,
commercial investors and private investors. As a result, studies just cleaning a panel once a year may not have a significant
to improve the overall output strength of PV systems have been impact on the annual energy output for the obvious reason that
sparked by this demand. Solar panel cleaning techniques are in no time at all, dirt will begin to accumulate once more,
employed to maintain their effectiveness. With respect to many negating the effect. Nowadays, finding labor, in particular, to
variables including variations in PV surface material, tilt angle, clean PV panels, is a difficult task.
surrounding atmosphere, pollution, and varying weather
conditions, the impact of dust deposition on PV cells'
performance varies. PV cell performance is impacted by the
dirt particles since soiling varies depending on the location.
Solar power's efficiency is being compromised by dirty panels.
Bird droppings, dust containing sand, pollen, and other
airborne particles, as well as the development of lichen close to
the lower edge of the module frame, can all cause PV cells to
get contaminated. Our solar panel investment is tarnished by
leaves, bird droppings, and airborne particles (due to dirt and
pollen).

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Volume 7, Issue 7, July – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
movement system. Cheap, lightweight, automatic, and low-
maintenance cleaning will be made possible by lowering the
cost and weight of the developed SPCR system. This particular
kind of solar panel cleaning robot cleans one section at a time
before moving on to the next until every solar panel has been
cleaned.

D. “Solar Panel Cleaning Robot Using Wireless

Communication”, Dr.K.S. Dhanalakshmi, S. Magesh Raj,
K. Santhosh Kumar, R. Keerthivash.
This paper focuses on the robotically assisted architectural
design of the automatic cleaning panels. With the aid of a
highly rhythmic pressure dumbed by the robot, the automatic
cooling principle has been put into practice. All of the debris
Fig 1:- Solar panels
and dust, both dangerous and benign, are removed. Removes
each solar panel one at a time using the left and right-
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
conditioned motors and a strong spray of water. The primary
goal of this proposed automotive innovation was to completely
A. “A FULLY PORTABLE ROBOT SYSTEM FOR
remove human interaction.
CLEANING SOLAR PANELS”. Mohammad A. Jaradat,
Mohammad Tauseef, Yousuf Altaf, Roba Saab, Hussam
III. METHODOLOGY
Adel, Nadeem Yousuf, and Yousef H. Zurigat, 2015
IEEE10th International Symposium on Mechatronics and
The proposed solar panel cleaning robot is used to
its Applications (ISMA).
remove the dirt and dust that have been deposited on the solar
panel, allowing it to absorb the most energy possible. The
The GCC region is rich in solar energy, but the desert
proposed solution comprises of a cleaning robot that moves
conditions are highly dusty, endangering the PV system's
alongside the solar panel and cleans the entire panel. The
ability to generate power. The main focus of this research is
cleaning robot's brush removes dirt and dust from the panel
on finding a solution to the problem of dust deposition on solar
with its help. The robot's activities and movement from one
panels in this location. The robotic system suggested in this
panel to the next are managed by a microcontroller that has
research is an easy solution to efficiently address this
been programmed. The capacity to clean multiple solar farm
difficulty. This system's limitation that it can only remove dust
panels with a single robot is the primary design criterion for
makes it unsuitable for usage in all solar plants.
the cleaning system.
B. “Solar Panel Cleaning Bot for Enhancement of Efficiency-
A. Block Diagram
An Innovative Approach”. Prof.J. B. Jawale, Prof. V. K.
Karra, Dr. B. P. Patil, Puneet Singh, Shailender Singh,
Saloni Atre.2016 IEEE Third International Conference on
Devices, Circuits and Systems (ICDCS'16)
The effectiveness of solar panels depends heavily on
cleaning and maintenance. An 8-panel array's efficiency has
increased by 30–33%, and as a result, we can infer that it will
be more useful in a solar park where there are significantly
more cells. A thorough cleaning is highly beneficial because
the performance of the entire array is impacted when a single
panel is compromised by collected dust. This system's
disadvantages include the fact that it is larger, heavier, and
requires more time to assemble the entire system than is ideal.

C. A Solar Panel Cleaning Robot Design and Application”,

European Journal of Science and Technology.
This paper will make it easier to clear up the dust Fig 2:- Block diagram
particles that have gathered and formed on the surface of solar
panels. A microprocessor will be responsible for the device's The Arduino microcontroller serves as the system's
control. The specially created equipment uses limit and brains and is its key component. With the aid of a motor driver
distance sensors to automatically finish the cleaning operation. that is interfaced with the Arduino, the system's motors are
It will be able to recharge the battery in the parking garage so managed. The cleaning is done by the robot by repeating the
that it is prepared for the subsequent washing cycle with no first process. The cleaning robot's proposed system operation
additional work. A seamless transition from the gaps between sequence travels the complete length of a solar panel. The
the Solar panels is made possible by the pulley pallet system, robot features four wheels with four motors each, sensors, and
which was specifically created for the Solar panel, in the a controller subsystem in addition to brushes and a water
spraying sector. The robot frame has two motors mounted on

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Volume 7, Issue 7, July – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
each side. To strengthen the stability of the robot, four motors to 2A, the module is capable of driving DC motors with
are utilized to drive unique wheels, while three other motors voltages ranging from 5 to 35V.
are used to drive each brush in the front and back.

Through this, we create a technology for cleaning solar

panels that is affordable. On the Arduino development board,
the system's software is put into practice. Both the vertical and
horizontal axes of the system are supported by PV modules.
The cleaning brush moves on the vertical axis as the robot
moves from one panel to the next on the horizontal axis. To
maintain the desired limiting array, position switches can
measure the length of the solar panel array.

B. Hardware Components Fig 5:- Motor Driver (L298N)

ARDUINO UNO: An ATmega328P-based
microcontroller board is called Arduino UNO. It has 6 IR- SENSOR: An infrared (IR) sensor is an electrical
analogue inputs, a sixteen MHz ceramic resonator, a USB port, device that measures and detects infrared radiation in its
a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It has 14 environment. When cleaning solar panels, an IR sensor is
virtual input/output pins, 6 of which can be used as PWM employed for edge detection.
outputs. It comes with everything required to support the
microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB
wire or power it with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to start
going.

Fig 6:- IR-Sensor

ROLLER BRUSH: These brushes are employed in the

project to clean the solar panels' surface. These are joined to
the robot's body, and it uses them to clean the surface once
water is shot from the nozzle through the pump.
Fig 3:- Arduino Uno

BLUETOOTH (HC-05): The HC-05 Bluetooth module

(Fig. 4) is made for wireless communication. This module can
be set up as a grasp or slave. All devices that support serial
communication can communicate with one another via
Bluetooth serial modules.

Fig 7:- Brushes

IV. PROTOTYPE WORKING

Fig 4:- HC-05

MOTOR DRIVER: The twin H-Bridge motor driver,

model number L298N, enables simultaneous speed and
direction control of two DC motors. With a peak current of up
Fig 8:- Prototype - 1

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Volume 7, Issue 7, July – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
The prototype-1 up top demonstrates the bot's basic REFERENCES
design and operation. As can be seen from the above
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which are a crucial component of our automated bot, could not 2015 IEEE10th International Symposium on
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This experiment demonstrates how contaminants Innovative Science and Research Technology.
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the effectiveness of PV systems. The effectiveness and [10]. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8825028
performance of the solar panels are greatly impacted by dust.
Whereas solar energy is abundant in the GCC region. The
robotic system suggested in this research is an easy solution to
properly handle the challenge. Although the prototype
produced encouraging results, more tweaks and testing are
needed to produce a cleaning solution that is more reliable and
self-sufficient.

A few benefits of this method include simplicity of

maintenance, affordability, and reduced power consumption.
Finally, by adopting this cleaning technology, the decrease in
peak power generation can also be mitigated. The test findings
suggest that robot cleaning increases the efficiency of the PV
panel. On the other hand, this cleaning approach can be used
for an economical operation that is designed to increase
electricity output.

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