Thermal property of EDS film and its effect on the removal of dust particles as a function of surface temperature
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Abstract
Solar energy is used worldwide. Deserts and semi-arid areas are well suited for solar energy harvesting. High dust concentration in deserts, where many large solar plants are located, causes a loss of energy conversion efficiency by soiling solar collectors. Electrodynamic Screen (EDS) film when laminated over photovoltaic module, works as a self-cleaning technology designed for soiling loss mitigation of solar plants and it requires no water and consumes very low energy. However, the high ambient temperature in deserts leads to a decrease of efficiency of the silicon solar panels, and the EDS film has a potential influence on increasing temperature of the panels. This thesis focuses on the thermal property of EDS film and to determine its effects on the operating temperature of solar panels and its efficiency. A series of experiments are designed to test the performance of solar panels with or without EDS film lamination operations under different ambient temperatures. With a variety of electrodes and optically clear adhesives used in constructing EDS film, we investigated the change in cell temperature with EDS films. The results show the EDS film has minimum effect on rising temperature of solar panel and its effectiveness in dust removal is not diminished.