Experimental Study of Electrical Outputs for Air-Blower Cleaned, Water Cleaned and Unclean Solar PV Panels

Abstract

This article reports the experimental study of the electrical output of the solar PV panels in the form of current and voltage values with and without cleaning of the panels. Experiments were performed with three identical 40 watt solar PV panels placed on the rooftop for on-field observations.  One panel was not cleaned, second was cleaned with an air blower and third was cleaned with water. Current, voltage and temperatures of the panels were recorded along with the ambient air temperature and global solar radiation. Results show that the current and voltage values are higher for the water cleaned panel, followed by the air cleaned panel. The temperatures are generally higher for the unclean panel, followed by blower cleaned and then the water cleaned panel. There is a difference of about 2W power output between the water cleaned and unclean panel, with water cleaned panel on the higher side. This accounts for about 5% of the power capacity of the panels.