PROJECT PROPOSAL
_____
as presented by:
TEAM ECLIPSE
Yotam Mosinzon
Christian Brice
Aaron Ranallo
Matthew Chan
Danielle Winecoff t
Don Lam
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April 16, 2015
Section 1 - Problem Statement
Problem
Today, the whole world uses electricity - it’s impossible to imagine a life without it. We depend
on it for refrigeration, heating, transportation, hospitals, communication systems and many other
essential services that maintain our way of life. The major sources of electricity production that
we utilize are coal and oil, both of which produce pollutants to the atmosphere and the
environment. By relying on these nonrenewable energy sources, the price of energy will
increase exponentially, and eventually be too expensive to incorporate into power stations.
Team Eclipse has acknowledged this pressing issue and has decided to focus on solar energy
to replace nonrenewable resources. With improved and more advanced solar panels being
designed each year, there is a way out of the fossil fuel slope as solar energy becomes as cost
efficient as coal and oil. However, with this new field there are many problems to tackle before it
can take its place as the leading energy source. We want to assist in solving one of solar
energy’s pressing issues that plague all solar panels, the vulnerability of solar panels being
exposed to erosion and piling-up of debris.
All solar panels in outdoor environments are affected by the accumulation of debris on the
panels. This reduces the efficiency of the photovoltaic cell, requiring maintenance to retain its
current energy production. Maintenance of solar panels is costly over larger solar grids, and if
they are in a logistically difficult area, they may not be cleaned at all. Furthermore, the lack of
maintenance decreases the operational longevity of a solar cell. So, Team Eclipse asks: How
might we create a device that can clean solar panels while reducing both the monetary and
electrical cost to the consumer, versus current solutions?
Significance
Much of solar cell research is funneled into increasing the efficiency of the solar cell. However,
this research is sparked in part by the lack of a solar cell’s ability to maintain efficiency due to
inner circuitry decay and exterior conditions. Environmental debris plays a significant role as it is
the condition in which we humans have the least control over, but can be easily remedied.
There are three main reasons why our solution is needed:
1) Solar panels put in the desert can easily be covered by fine particles of sand due to the
wind. Sand coating can decrease solar cell efficiency by 15% (Marouani, Bouaouadja,
Castro, and Duran).
2) The high cost of maintenance is a deterrent to some looking to buy into the industry
(solarpoweristhefuture.com).
3) Current solar panel owners could save $5,000-$10,000 a year with a cheap cleaning
system (winsol.com).
Stakeholders
Homeowners:
People who want to use solar energy but are unwilling to make an immediate conversion hold
stake in this problem. One reason that people do not use solar energy is the constant need to
service the solar cell in order to maintain optimal efficiency. Also, better maintenance of solar
panels will lead to a higher efficiency, which in turn leads to a faster payoff time for owners.
Automated maintenance of any sort could possibly make switching to solar energy seem more
favorable.
Professors:
Professors doing research on increasing solar cell efficiency are also affected by this problem.
Raising solar efficiency is a very difficult task with ambitious goals. Only very recently has the
efficiency of commercially available solar cells raised to about 30%. As researchers mainly
focus on increasing efficiency of photovoltaic cells within laboratories, they overlook the
importance of photovoltaic cell maintenance - one of the essential factors in keeping the
efficiency of the cell constant. Understating this concept would lead to an overall increase in
solar efficiency, as debris that covers the panel can reduce solar efficiency by up 60% (in
extreme cases), while scientists in the next year will increase photovoltaic efficiency by one or
two percent at best.
Current Solar Users:
People who are currently using solar energy are already invested in our project. If we succeed
in reducing some of the cost and time they spend on cleaning, they can pay off their panels
faster and start making money sooner. Better maintenance would also increase the longevity of
their solar cells.
DOE:
The Department of Energy would be interested in our prototype. The program SunShot
Initiative, which is part of the DOE, supports universities to drive down the cost of solar
electricity. We can also use their Solar Powering America to market our model to businesses
and organizations to commit to solar energy.
Solar Companies:
Solar energy companies in Atlanta, such as Suniva, a solar company based from and headed
by Georgia Tech professor Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, may also be interested in our solution. We could
partner with them to help integrate our ideas with theirs, and allow the cleaning device to come
preinstalled on panels. Converting more people to solar energy users would also help their
profits.
Utilities Companies:
Our product could reduce the cost of electricity for utility companies, such as Southern
Company. This would benefit both them and their customers as well.
Context and Existing Solutions
Many solar panels (especially residential) are maintained by people wiping them down. While
this may seem like a simple solution, it is not a very practical solution for everyday users.
Without proper knowledge of how a solar cell works, an everyday user may clean the cell very
inefficiently or very poorly, in both cases leading to a decrease in efficiency and an increase in
frustration. If the user feels as though he has to put in more energy to maintain the solar cell
than what he actually makes from it, he may just go back to a regular lighting system. This is
also a large waste of time for homeowners, as it requires great preparation and precaution as
well. According to energymatters.com, homeowners should not clean their own solar panels
unless they can do it from the ground, or are specifically trained to do so. Instead, they should
hire someone to clean the panels for them, which adds to the cost.
The usage of water jets to spray distilled water across the panel is only really financially
accessible to major electrical companies with large solar arrays. Corporate buildings in urban
environments and rural - residential - consumers may not have such easy access to these
physical or financial resources. Using non-distilled (tap) water may leave residues that end up
as much of a problem as the original dirt.
According to Alchemie Limited Inc. (2013), cleaning robots also exist for solar panels. While
these are a viable solution, they require energy to run and block portions of the panel while
cleaning. Also, some models can be expensive, and require maintenance themselves!
Some solar owners simply leave their panel to the elements in the hope that rain alone can
maintain their efficiency. In some areas, this may be a viable solution. However, most of those
areas are not where the majority of solar panels are found. According to a study by Kimber et al,
conducted in California, it took almost 20 mm of rain to completely clean the panel. This amount
of rain falls rarely and only at certain times of the year. However, that much rain raised the
efficiency of the panel by 40% (7-12.5% efficiency). Using a solar cleaner could stop that
decrease from ever occurring.
Why is it still a problem?
Much of the ongoing research into solar energy is focused on increasing the efficiency of the
solar cell. However as years of research go by, this gradual increase in efficiency is clouded by
a gradual loss of efficiency: up to 30% decrease in arid regions. Therefore, maintaining a solar
cell’s cleanliness and functionality is equally as important as increasing the efficiency of a solar
cell. Also, any proposed solution has to cost less than the current methods of mass solar-panel
cleaning/maintenance; or, if it costs more, it should be more efficient than current methods.
Section 2 - Proposed Work
Goal
Team Eclipse’s goal is to improve the longevity and cost efficiency of maintenance of
photovoltaic cells through proper, automated maintenance of the surface of solar panels. We
hope to develop a device that will automatically clean solar panels based on the electrical output
of the solar panel and to reduce the overall cost of solar cell maintenance. If this goal is met, not
only will money formerly allocated to solar panel maintenance be used elsewhere, but also
people who are hesitant to use solar energy may be more incentivised (i.e. common
homeowners).
Objectives
The first objective is to design a device that can clean solar panels and be energy positive
(create more energy than it uses). Another aim is to make this device more efficient, in energy,
time, and money, than devices currently in the market.
Objectives - Background
Solar efficiency can be decreased by inclement weather conditions, such as dust, snow, and
even pollen. While it may not seem like these environmental conditions can have much of an
effect on photovoltaic cells, research from Marouani et al has shown that debris as small as
sand has the potential to lower solar efficiency by 40 percent. Seeing as the maximum solar
efficiency attained is 44.7 percent according to Fraunhofer ISE, that would mean that under
desert conditions the maximum practical efficiency would be 27 percent. If solar cells can be
better maintained, there will not be such an immediate necessity to research how to raise the
efficiency of a solar cell.
Currently, solutions that do exist have many drawbacks. Cleaning the panels by hand is tedious
- often dangerous - and sometimes downright impossible, depending on panel location. Paying
for labor and materials is also expensive, and harsh cleaners can decrease the operational
lifetime of the cell. Cleaning robots can cost several thousand dollars (not including yearly
maintenance), and often require almost as much energy as they save.
Objectives - Methods
We plan to build an automated machine that will be able to remove different types of debris and
other materials based on the area and climate affecting the solar panel. There are many options
for choosing our cleaning material and mode of cleaning, and we have brainstormed several
methods for our proposed solar cleaner.
If it is assumed that the solar power grid is standardized, as in having the same dimensions and
surface, and the panels are separated and not stuck together to make a large power grid, some
possible solutions are listed below. We would complete our brainstorming and designing
between Summer and Fall 2015, and move on to prototyping Winter 2015. After we complete
our prototype, we will work on optimizing our process to cut manufacturing costs.
1) A cover implemented with a brush in which that the brush would have to use less force
to wipe the debris off the panel. This modified cover can also be designed to fit large
area solar panels.
2) As solar panels are placed in many environments, we have to design the most adaptable
brushes to suit debris such as snow, sand, dirt, dust, and pollen, or make seperate
brushes specifically developed to tackle each debris category.
3) A type of sweeper (like a windshield wiper) that moves quickly from one end of the panel
to the other is also possible. Different sized panels would simply require more tracks and
a longer sweeper, so this solution would be adaptable to a multitude of photovoltaic
panel sizes. So far this is the most viable solution.
Objectives - Outcomes
If we can develop a proof-of-concept machine that can then be refined into a simple device, we
will have succeeded with our first objective. If we are unable to create a working device, we will
have failed our first objective.
The measurability of our second objective is much less black-and-white. In order to make the
solar panel cleaner cost efficient, it will have to use less energy than it saves, cost less than the
competition, and also pay for itself during the operational lifetime of the solar panel. We also
want to design something that is low maintenance, as one of our main reasons for creating this
device is to keep solar panel owners safe.
Objectives - Anticipated Problems
Creating a device that can operate with a fraction of a solar panel’s electrical output will be
difficult, as that will require measuring the energy produced by both clean and dirty solar panels,
as well as the energy consumed by our device. Also, uncooperative weather during our testing
could confound the results.
This solution also has to be user-friendly; if it requires constant maintenance or for the owner to
be checking it often, then the solution is not serving its purpose. Lastly, obtaining quantitative
data has been a major problem for us so far, and will most likely continue to be a problem in the
near future. There is not a lot of data on this topic, and most of it deals only with laboratory
conditions and must be heavily extrapolated to be deemed useful in the real world.
Research Team
Team Eclipse will consist of 6 members, Yotam, Christian, Don, Danielle, Aaron, and Matthew.
Everyone will conduct individual research. Team Eclipse requires designers, programmers, and
hardware specialists. A designer’s role is to design blueprints for 1) a proof-of-concept machine
and, eventually, 2) a device that is both intuitive to use and cheap to manufacture. A hardware
specialist will construct the actual device. It is imperative that the designers and the hardware
specialists work together. A hardware specialist must be knowledgeable enough of relevant
tools and materials in order to find the most cost efficient solution while retaining the
functionality and efficiency of the device. A programmer is responsible for the functionality of
software involved. We will also require quality assurance specialists to test the functionality of
the device in different scenarios. After the semester ends, Matthew and Yotam will be staying
on campus to monitor our experiment (measuring loss of electrical output due to debris on the
surface of a solar panel). We will discuss results and steps as a group on a biweekly basis. The
remainder of our team (Don, Aaron, Christian, and Danielle) will return after the summer to plan
the design of the machine during the Fall of 2015. Railyn, our Facilitator, has agreed to be our
advisor for this project. Professor Francesco is another possible candidate for a future advisor;
he has given us sufficient information to refine our problem statement and has been a great help
in other ways.
Timeline
● April to August 2015 - Experiment to measure the effect of debris on the electrical output
of a solar panel.
● September to December 2015 - Designing a proof-of-concept machine.
● January 2016 - Ordering materials needed to build machine.
● February to April 2016 - Building and testing machine.
Budget
We plan on having an exact “shopping list” of materials by the weekend of April 17, 2015. We
are currently compiling a list of materials (which is nearly complete), so we do not yet have a
budget for our experiment.
Materials and Supplies
Team Eclipse has borrowed two large solar panels from the Georgia Tech UCEPRE (University
Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics Research and Excellence). Immediate needs for Team
Eclipse include 10 Ohm/200 Watt resistors, Amp current meters, XLTech meters, and an
Arduino/Raspberry Pi, among other materials, for conducting an experiment to determine a
threshold for energy loss due to dirtying of the surface of the panel. We do not yet have an idea
of what materials we will need for the construction of a prototype (or any future versions).
Equipment
None of our materials should cost more than $1,000.
Services
As far as we can tell, we will not require services.
Travel
As far as we can tell, we will not require traveling.
Section 3 - Expected Outcomes and Future Directions
By the end of the Fall 2015 semester, Team Eclipse hopes to have a functioning design that can
begin development at the start of the Spring 2016 semester. Throughout the year 2016, we
hope to not only construct a proof-of-concept of the aforementioned device, but also to improve
upon the design so that it is cheaper and more lightweight. In time, Team Eclipse hopes to
make the device efficient enough and cheap enough (taking into account material cost, of
course) to be marketable. In order to make this project more successful, we may wish to
establish connections with companies in Georgia that deal with solar panels and maintaining
them, such as Georgia Power.
Section 4 - Sources
Aerial Power Limited. (n.d.). SOLARBRUSH. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
http://www.solarbrush.co/.
Alchemie Limited, Inc. (2013). Solar Panel Cleaning is Required for Optimal Performance.
Retrieved March 14, 2015 from http://www.solar-facts-and-advice.com/solar-panelcleaning.html.
Canada, S. (2013). Impact of Soiling on Utility-Scale PV System Performance. Solar
Professional 6(3). 1-4. Retrieved March 12, 2015 from www.solarprofessional.com.
Fraunhofer ISE. (2013, September 23). World Record Solar Cell With 44.7% Efficiency.
Retrieved March 14, 2015, from http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-and-media/pressreleases/presseinformationen-2013/world-record-solar-cell-with-44.7-efficiency.
How to Clean Solar Panels. Retrieved May 14, 2015, from http://www.winsol.com/solar.htm.
IPCEagle. Solar Panel Pure Water Cleaning System. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2015, from
http://www.ipceagle.com/products/solar-panel-pure-water-cleaning-system#.VQT4OY7F9ps
Kimber, A., Mitchell, L., Nogradi, S., and Wenger, H. (n.d.). The Effect of Soiling on Large GridConnected Photovoltaic Systems in California and the Southwest Region of the United States.
Retrieved March 12, 2015 from
http://chicocarpetcleaner.com/sites/default/files/Power%20Light%20Corp%20Solar%20Study.pd
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Marouani, A., Bouaouadja, N., Castro, Y., & Duran, A. (2008, March 1). Effect of the
Sandstorms on the Solar Panels. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from
http://www.isites.info/PastConferences/ISITES2013/ISITES2013/papers/A1-ISITES13089.pdf
Problems With Solar Energy - Why It Is Not More Widely Used. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14,
2015, from http://www.solarpoweristhefuture.com/problems-with-solar-energy.shtml
Solar Panel Efficiency - Pure Energies. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2015, from
http://pureenergies.com/us/how-solar-works/solar-panel-efficiency/