Open AccessAssembly of Modular Robot for Cleaning Various Length of Solar Panels
Author(s) -
K Chailoet,
E Pengwang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/639/1/012014
Subject(s) - modular design , robot , dirt , engineering , solar energy , photovoltaic system , automotive engineering , mechanical engineering , simulation , computer science , electrical engineering , artificial intelligence , operating system
This paper discusses about the design and feasibility study for building a modular robot for cleaning solar panels. The objective was to design a universal module for transmission and manipulation that can be used with different length of solar panels and different arrangements in solar panel. Since there are various configurations for arranging the solar panel, this robot can be modified using an advantage of modular robots. The principle of working is to clean a solar panel with water, spiral brush, and rubber sweeper. The modular concepts were validated for the solar panel with a range of 1 to 4 meters in both testing and field environments. The solar panels cleaning robot can clean dirt and dust on the panel and increase the power generation of the solar panels. The target applications for this design can be extended for a solar farm, solar rooftop, and floating solar panels.