Development of following robot for supplying power to solar panel cleaning robot

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaokun Li ◽  
Xin Li
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Battery Life ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cleaning Robot ◽  
Cleaning Robots ◽  
Continuous Power

Purpose Autonomous mobile cleaning robots are widely used to clean solar panels because of their flexibility and high efficiency. However, gravity is a challenge for cleaning robots on inclined solar panels, and robots have problems such as high working power and short battery life. This paper aims to develop a following robot to improve the working time and efficiency of the cleaning robot. Design/methodology/approach The mechanical structure of the robot is designed so that it can carry a large-capacity battery and continuously power the cleaning robot. The robot determines its position and orientation relative to the edge of solar panel by using optoelectronic sensors. Based on the following distance, the robot changes its state between moving and waiting to ensure that supply cable will not drag. Findings Prototype following robot test results show that the following robot can stably follow the cleaning robot and supply continuous power to cleaning robot. The linear error of the following robot moving along the solar panel is less than 0.3 m, and the following distance between the robot and the cleaning robot is in 0.5–1.5 m. Practical implications The working time of cleaning robots and working efficiency is improved by using following robot, thereby reducing the labor intensity of workers and saving the labor costs of cleaning. Originality/value The design of the following robot is innovative. Following robot works with the existing cleaning robots to make up for shortcomings of the existing cleaning system. It provides a more feasible and practical solution for using robots to clean solar panels.

Low prices will expand China's solar panel exports

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Panel ◽  
Solar Photovoltaic ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Prices ◽  
The World ◽  
At Home

Subject The outlook for the solar photovoltaic sector in China. Significance The EU's decision last month to remove tariffs on imported Chinese solar panels follows a US move to increase tariffs. It also comes at a time when international prices for panels are falling in response to a reduction of subsides for the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in China. Impacts Falling prices will stimulate further installation of solar PV capacity across the world, especially in sunny regions. Chinese manufacturers will further expand their capacity both at home and abroad. Non-Chinese PV manufacturers will find their profits squeezed even further unless they are protected by import controls. The rate of deployment of new solar PV capacity within China will decline, but still remain substantial.

Thermally induced dynamics of deployable solar panels of nanosatellite

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (7) ◽  
pp. 1039-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syahrim Azhan Ibrahim ◽  
Eiki Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Structural Response ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Thermally Induced ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Finite Element Software

Purpose This study aims to predict the types of thermally induced dynamics (TID) that can occur on deployable solar panels of a small form factor satellite, CubeSat which flies in low Earth orbit (LEO). The TID effect on the CubeSat body is examined. Design/methodology/approach A 3U CubeSat with four short-edge deployable solar panels is considered. Time historic temperature of the solar panels throughout the orbit is obtained using a thermal analysis software. The results are used in numerical simulation to find the structural response of the solar panel. Subsequently, the effect of solar panel motion on pointing the direction of the satellite is examined using inertia relief method. Findings The thermal snap motion could occur during eclipse transitions due to rapid temperature changes in solar panels’ cross-sections. In the case of asymmetric solar panel configuration, noticeable displacement in the pointing direction can be observed during the eclipse transitions. Research limitations/implications This work only examines an LEO mission where the solar cells of the solar panels point to the Sun throughout the daylight period and point to the Earth while in shadow. Simplification is made to the CubeSat structure and some parameters in the space environment. Practical implications The results from this work reveal several practical applications worthy of simplifying the study of TID on satellite appendages. Originality/value This work presents a computational method that fully uses finite element software to analyze TID phenomenon that can occur in LEO on a CubeSat which has commonly used deployable solar panels structure.

scholarly journals Efficient and Reliable Solar Panels for Small CubeSat Picosatellites

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Vertat ◽  
Ales Vobornik
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Optical Sensors ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Power Budget ◽  
Standard Size ◽  
Access Port

CubeSat picosatellites have a limited area of walls for solar cells assembling and the available area has to be effectively shared with other parts, such as planar antennas, optical sensors, camera lens, and access port. With standard size of solar cell strings, it is not possible to construct a reliable solar panel for CubeSat with redundant strings interconnection. Typical solar panels for CubeSat consist of two solar cell strings serially wired with no redundancy in case of solar string failure. The loss of electric energy from one solar panel can cause a serious problem for most picosatellites due to minimum margin in the blueprints of the picosatellite subsystem power budget. In this paper, we propose a new architecture of solar panels for PilsenCUBE CubeSat with a high level of redundancy in the case of solar string failure or following switched power regulator failure. Our solar panels use a high efficiency triple junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge in the form of small triangle strings from the Spectrolab Company. A suitable technology for precise solar cell assembling is also discussed, because CubeSat picosatellites are usually developed by small teams with limited access to high-end facilities.

scholarly journals A design of solar battery cleaning system by modularity method

2021 ◽  
Vol 327 ◽  
pp. 02007
Author(s):  
L.K. Dien ◽  
Svetlin Antonov
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Cleaning Robot ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Compact Size ◽  
Solar Battery ◽  
Statistical Report ◽  
The Government

According to the World Bank statistical report, Vietnam has an average of 1,600-2,700 hours of sunshine and normal direct radiation averaging 4-5 kWh per square meter a day. Before 2017, solar energy was considered worthless in Vietnam's energy development strategy, but by the end of 2019, Vietnam overtook Malaysia and Thailand to become the country with the largest solar panel installation capacity in Southeast Asia. The photovoltaic projects in Vietnam has reached 5 gigawatts (GW), far exceeding from the target of 1 GW that proposed by the Government in 2020 [1]. The strong development of solar energy from industry to civil activities has led to the development of ancillary services such as installation, maintenance and commerce. To ensure the productivity, all solar panels must be cleaned to absorb solar energy as much as possible. In the paper, we mention on the design of a solar panel cleaning robot that has a compact size, easy to move through the panels, taking advantage of domestic factors to have an edge price. The highlight point in that work is our application of the modularity method to gain the best competition with the other existing products on the market.

Automatic Solar Panel Cleaning Robot

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
K. S. Margaret ◽  
T. Bathirnath ◽  
V. Dinesh Kumar ◽  
N. Praveen Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Control System ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Favorable Result ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Cleaning Robot ◽  
Cleaning Device ◽  
Arduino Microcontroller

The dust particles accumulating on the solar panels will decrease the solar energy reaching the solar cells, thereby reducing the overall power output.  In this paper, the problem is reviewed and methods for dust removal and reduction of heat are discussed. A robot cleaning device is developed and features a versatile platform which travels the entire length of a panel.  An Arduino microcontroller is used to implement robots control system.  The robot will provide a favorable result and shows that such a system is viable.  In conclusion, it is found that robotic cleaning and heat reduction is practical and can help in maintain the solar panel efficiency.

Experimental comparison of drag-wiper and roller-wiper glass-cleaning robots

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhou ◽  
Xin Li
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Experimental Comparison ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Cleaning Robot ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Cleaning Robots ◽  
Glass Cleaning ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Glass-cleaning robots were developed to perform the difficult, time-consuming and dangerous job of cleaning windows that had traditionally been done by humans. The wiping mechanism is the most important functional component of a glass-cleaning robot, which indirectly affects the design of the adsorption and transport mechanisms. This study aims to compare two types of wiping mechanisms – the drag-wiper and roller-wiper –through an analysis and an actual experiment, providing theoretical and measured data that can be applied to the optimization of the design of future glass-cleaning robots. Design/methodology/approach The authors undertook a theoretical force and energy consumption analysis of glass-cleaning robots and, based on the obtained results, undertook an analysis the two wiper types. They verified the theoretical analysis by conducting several experiments including studying the relationship between a wiper’s friction force and rotational speed, measuring the contact normal forces of the suckers, wiper and crawlers relative to the glass wall, measuring the energy consumed to drive the robot and studying the relationship between the vacuum pump’s power consumption and the adsorption force. The authors also compared the wiping efficacy of the drag-wiper robot and roller-wiper robot. Findings The drag-wiper offers the advantages of simplicity while being able to wipe the area around the edge of a window frame. Meanwhile, the use of a roller-wiper not only improves the robot’s driving performance and reduces the required adsorption force but can also reduce the amount of energy consumed to drive both the robot itself and also the vacuum pump; in addition, the roller-wiper is more flexible and energy- and time-efficient when dealing with dirt that is difficult to remove. Originality/value This study has, through a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of a drag-wiper and roller-wiper robot, from the three aspects of force analysis, energy consumption and wiping efficacy, obtained theoretical and measured data that can be applied to the optimization of the design of future industrial and household glass-cleaning robots.

The number of employed as a macroeconomic indicator of working time dynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-945
Author(s):  
I.A. Zaikova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Time Dynamics ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Macroeconomic Indicator

Subject. The working time of workers at any stage of economic development is a value reflecting the level of labor productivity. Any progress in productivity contributes to changes in the volume of labor costs and the number of employed. Depending on the relationship between the total volume of labor costs and the number of employed, the duration of working time per one worker may change (it may increase, decrease, or remain unchanged). Objectives. The study aims to confirm the importance of such a macroeconomic indicator as the number of employed in varying working hours. Methods. The study rests on the comparative analysis of countries with developed economies based on some indicators like dynamics of the working time fund, dynamics of the number of employed, average number of hours worked during the year per employee, etc. The analyzed timespan is 25 years (from 1991 to 2016). Results. The comparative analysis revealed that in the non-production sphere and the economy as a whole the macroeconomic determinants correlate so that the length of working time per worker reduces. When considering the analysis results for the manufacturing sector, no single trend was identified. Conclusions. One of the key factors affecting the change in working hours is the number of employed. The relationship between the working time fund and the number of employed directly determines the dynamics of working time per worker.

Contradiction Analysis and Solution in the R&D of High-Power Solar LED Street Lamp Controller

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Zhengwang Xu ◽  
Wei Mei ◽  
Jiaqi Yu ◽  
Jiarui Zhang ◽  
Yuchun Yi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Supply ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Battery Voltage ◽  
Supply Circuit ◽  
Led Light ◽  
Power Supply Circuit ◽  
Side Mode ◽  
Dual Power

As being restricted by factors such as cost, efficiency and size, the development of high-power solar LED street light controller is faced with plenty of difficulties. In case that a structure of two independent DC/DC is applied as the main circuit, it has to face problems such as large size and high cost; in case of applying the bidirectional BUCK/BOOST circuit, it requires change-over switches to control the solar panel and LED light. As being restricted by withstanding voltage, on-resistance and cost, a PMOS device cannot be used as the change-over switch of solar panel and LED light. However, when being used as a change-over switch, an NMOS device must apply the low-side mode under which the negative ends of the mentioned three parts are cut off. In the condition of applying the low-side mode, a differential circuit must be used to detect the voltage of the solar panel. Furthermore, in order to make sure batteries can still be regularly charged after wearing out in daylight, the controller must be supplied with power through a dual power supply circuit that can obtain power from both the solar panel and the battery. The demander has a requirement on extremely low standby power consumption of the product, and thus it is necessary to minimize the circuit that is live while working in standby mode. Methods: The bidirectional BUCK/BOOST circuit structure is applied to the main circuit to realize a higher change-over efficiency while giving considerations to both cost and size. The NMOS device, model IRFB4410ZPBF, with a price of about three yuan, is used as the switching device, and the low-side mode is applied, that is the switches inserted in between negative end of the solar panel or LED light and that of the DC/DC circuit. The low-cost rail-to-rail operational amplifier LM358 is used to form a differential amplification circuit for detecting the voltage of the solar panel. A XL1509-12E1 chip that only costs 0.88 yuan/pc is selected as the main change-over chip for the power supply, which has realized the highly-efficient and low-cost change-over of the power supply. A dual power supply circuit and a step-down protective circuit are designed for the XL1509-12E1 change-over chip. By comparing solar panel voltage with battery voltage, the solar panel booting circuit is realized. Only when solar panel voltage is higher than battery voltage, does the system program start to power it up for running, so that the outage of most of the circuits of the system under standby mode does not consume energy. Furthermore, the solar panel voltage detecting circuit, the solar panel booting circuit and several return difference functions are corrected during system debugging. Results: The circuit board of the entire controller features small size, low cost and high efficiency. It measures about 100*62*18mm in size, costs about 60 yuan, and the charge/discharge change-over efficiency reaches up to over 95%. The controller has many functions: it is capable of operating within a large scope, in which, solar panel voltage is subject to 15~50V, LED light voltage is subject to 15~60V, battery voltage is subject to 10~35V and battery-end charge/discharge current is 10A; it is capable of adapting to monocrystalline silicon/multicrystalline silicon/thin-film and many other kinds of solar panels, as well as lithium/lead-acid and many other kinds of batteries; it is capable of detecting the conversion of day and night, automatically controlling charging and discharging and automatically making adaptive adjustment according to seasonal variations; the current to be consumed during standby will be maintained below 3mA, and thus the power consumption is extremely low. Conclusion: By selecting the bidirectional BUCK/BOOST circuit structure, applying low-side mode for switching of solar panel and LED light, using a differential circuit to detect solar panel voltage, using a low-cost DC/DC chip to realize power supply change-over, designing a dual power supply circuit, introducing solar panel booting circuit and other hardware design, as well as MPPT algorithm, state recognition and control, return difference control and other software design, a solar LED street light control product featuring small size, low cost, high efficiency and multiple functions is successfully developed.

scholarly journals Investigation of Multiparameter Laser Stripping of AlTiN and DLC C Coatings

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 951
Author(s):  
Tomáš Primus ◽  
Josef Hlavinka ◽  
Pavel Zeman ◽  
Jan Brajer ◽  
Martin Šorm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Steel Substrate ◽  
Cutting Tools ◽  
High Hardness ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Nanosecond Laser ◽  
Altin Coating ◽  
Successful Removal ◽  
Frequency Laser

The lifetime and properties of cutting tools and forming moulds can be prolonged and enhanced by the deposition of hard, thin coatings. After a certain period of usage, the coating will deteriorate. Any remaining coating must be removed prior to successful recoating. Laser stripping is a fast and environmentally friendly coating removal method. In this paper, we present laser removal of two types of coatings deposited on a 1.2379 tool steel substrate, namely, an AlTiN coating with high hardness and a DLC C coating with a small coefficient of friction (COF). A powerful nanosecond laser was employed to remove the coating from the substrate with high efficiency, along with suitable residual surface roughness. Measurements were taken of surface roughness, removed depth, and working time on a stripped area of 1 cm2. The samples were evaluated under a microscope, with a 3D profilometer, and by EDS chemical analysis. Successful removal of the coating was confirmed by optical analysis, but detailed chemical characterisation showed that about 30% of the coating element may remain on the surface. Moreover, a working time of less than 7.5 s per cm2 was obtained in this study. In addition, it was shown that the application of a second low energy, high frequency laser beam pass leads to remelting of the peaks of the material and reduced surface roughness.

A novel way of parameter estimation of solar photovoltaic system

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Bisht ◽  
Afzal Sikander
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Estimation ◽  
Mean Absolute Error ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
Solar Photovoltaic ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Solar Photovoltaic System

Purpose This paper aims to achieve accurate maximum power from solar photovoltaic (PV), its five parameters need to be estimated. This study proposes a novel optimization technique for parameter estimation of solar PV. Design/methodology/approach To extract optimal parameters of solar PV new optimization technique based on the Jellyfish search optimizer (JSO). The objective function is defined based on two unknown variables and the proposed technique is used to estimate the two unknown variables and the rest three unknown variables are estimated analytically. Findings In this paper, JSO is used to estimate the parameters of a single diode PV model. In this study, eight different PV panels are considered. In addition, various performance indices, such as PV characteristics, such as power-voltage and current-voltage curves, relative error (RE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and normalized mean absolute error (NMAE) are determined using the proposed algorithm and existing algorithms. The results for different solar panels have been obtained under varying environmental conditions such as changing temperature and constant irradiance or changing irradiance and constant temperature. Originality/value The proposed technique is new and provides better results with minimum RE, RMSE, NMAE, MAE and converges fast, as depicted by the fitness graph presented in this paper.

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