Automated Solar Panel Cleaning Robot

Pavithra E Vaishali S Mr.Karthikeyan K

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering
KCG College of Technology KCG College of Technology KCG College of Technology
Chennai, India Chennai, India Chennai, India
pavithraelumalai689@gmail.com vaisri12@gmail.com karthikeyan.eee@kcgcollege.com

Abstract—Renewable energy solution has achieved a great

demand today to save the natural resources and also to tackle II. PROPOSED AUTOMATIC PV CLEANING SYSTEM
the crisis of energy. Solar energy is rapidly gaining its
popularity as an important source of renewable energy. The The proposed system consists of sensors to monitor the
solar PV modules are generally employed in dusty robot to cease at the edge of the PV array which is programmed
environments in the case of tropical countries like India. The and controlled by Microcontroller. The Brushes are placed in the
dust gets accumulated on the front surface of the module and front and near the motor to have dry cleaning mechanism that
blocks the incident light from the sun. It reduces the power reduces the dust over panel and improves its efficiency. This
generation capacity of the module. The power output reduces proposed type can be used over any dimension of the panel, that's
as much as by 50% if the module is not cleaned for a month. an precedence. To avoid the intervention of the dust or soil
The cleaning mechanism has been designed to clean the module accumulation the proposed system is executed which improves the
by Microcontroller incorporated in the system to enhance the effectiveness of the overall cleaning system.
automated cleaning process. In this Project a novel design is to
be developed which uses controller based automatic cleaning of
III. BLOCK DIAGRAM
solar panels. A tool is designed to move the Robot over any
array size, and an Exhaust mechanism is designed based on the
amount/nature of dust accumulated by the BLDC motor. This The following block diagram shows the proposed
automated system use dry method for cleaning pv modules, cleaning systems and its expansion of the blocks is as follows:
having a rotating cylindrical brush connected to DC geared
motor which is controlled by Arduino uno. It has four
proximity sensors to cease the Robot at the edge of the panel.
Automatic Cleaner (SOPAC) is an autonomous, self-driven,
battery operated solar panel cleaning robot that works on a
cost-effective solution to increase the efficiency of solar panels.

Keywords—Arduino uno, Brushless DC Motor (BLDC), Direct

Current (DC).

I. INTRODUCTION
Electricity plays an important role in today's world's
without which nothing can be done. It is the mandatory factor for
production from large scale industries to small scale cottage
industries. Humans have been habituated with an ease of obtaining
their needs, which is absolutely possible due to electricity. The
whole world would become stunned if there is no power. It
involves tedious steps to generate, transmit and distribute the
power. Intense care should be taken during the process. 75% of the
Power that we use is obtained from the conventional sources of
energy, which are exhaustible. Renewable energy is an alternative
for the source and it is also abundantly available in nature. The
only drawback with non conventional source of energy is it's
availability round the clock. Proper use of these energies should be
done when it's available.
Fig 1. Block diagram
When it comes to PV panels, it's affected by the dust that
are carried by the wind which in turn will affect the efficiency of A. ARDUINO
the power output generated from the panel. So we've come up with Arduino is a single-board microcontroller
an idea to clean the panels on regular basis which will enhance the designed to make the process of using electronics in
power generation and also reduce the labour cost and time for multidisciplinary projects more accessible. The hardware consists
cleaning purposes. The existing system consists of large machines, of a simple open source hardware board designed around an 8-bit
robot for a specified panel size, rally type to run the cleaning robot Atmel AVR microcontroller with complementary components to
and manual intervention. Robotic cleaner is an autonomous device facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuits. An
that can move around and clean the surface using different important aspect of the Arduino is the standard way that
techniques such as vacuum cleaning, or simply scrubbing the connectors are exposed ,allowing the CPU board to be connected
surface with a rotating brush. to a variety of interchangeable add-on modules known as shields.
The software consists of a standard programming language
compiler and a boot that executes on the microcontroller. It
contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply

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connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC- IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Arduino Uno can be
powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply.

B. PROXIMITY SENSOR
"Proximity Sensor" includes all sensors that perform non-
contact detection in comparison to sensors, such as limit switches,
that detect objects by physically contacting them. Proximity Sensors
convert information on the movement or presence of an object into
an electrical signal. There are three types of detection systems that
do this conversion: systems that use the eddy currents that are
generated in metallic sensing objects by electromagnetic induction,
systems that detect changes in electrical capacity when approaching
the sensing object, and systems that use magnets and reed switches.
Proximity Sensors detect an object without touching it, and they
therefore do not cause abrasion or damage to the object. Proximity
Sensors can be used in a wide temperature range from −40 to 200°C Fig 2. Experimental setup
and are not affected by colour. The prototype connection are done as per the circuit connection
and design is shown .
C. MOTOR DRIVER
The motor driver and arduino uno is coupled together.
The L293D motor driver is available for providing user The robot is controlled and programed by the Micro-
friendly interfacing for embedded application. L293D motor driver controller(Arduino UNO).
is mounted on a good quality. Single sided non-PTH PCB. The
pins of L293D motor driver IC are connected to connectors for
easy access to the driver IC’s pin functions. The L293D is a Dual
Full Bridge driver that can drive up to 1Amp per bridge with
supply voltage up to 24V. It can drive two DC motors, relays,
solenoids, etc.Two H bridges of L293D can be connected in
parallel to increase its current capacity to 2 Amp.

D. DC GEAR MOTOR
DC Motor-geared motors are generally a simple DC motor with
a gearbox attached to it. This can be used in all-terrain robots and
variety of robotic applications. These motors have a 3 mm threaded
drill hole in the middle of the shaft thus making it simple to connect
it to the wheels or any other mechanical assembly. Nut and threads
on the shaft to easily connect and internally threaded shaft for easily
connecting it to the wheel. DC Geared motors with robust metal
gearbox for heavy-duty applications, available in the wide RPM
range and ideally suited for robotics and industrial applications.
Very easy to use and available in standard size.

E. BLDC MOTOR
Brushless motors are synchronous motors which are powered
by a DC electric source via an integrated inverter/switching power Fig 3. Simulation diagram
supply, which produces an AC electric signal to drive the motor. A
brushless dc motor specifically made to power Quad-copters and V. WORKING
Multirotors. It can be operated in reverse mechanism to work has an
exhaust system. It provides high performance, super power and
brilliant efficiency. These motors are perfect for medium size quad- In this project we will be cleaning the entire length of the panel
copter exhaust fan with 3 inch to 6 inch propellers. , irrespective of the panel dimensions. The Dry cleaning
mechanism is been implemented in this system. The cylindrical
Brush mounted on the cleaning unit rotates in the clockwise
F. BLDC MOTOR DRIVER FOR SPEED CONTROL direction.
BLDC electronic speed controller can drive motors which
consume up to 30A current. It works on 2S-3S LiPo batteries. It has The cleaning unit along with the rotating brush moves along the
an onboard BEC which provides regulated voltage to power the panel, starting from the right edge of the array move towards the top
brushless motors and other onboard modules. It is the medium of the panel. Along the entire path, it forces the dust to move in the
between the BLDC motor and the Arduino UNO (Micro- direction of the motion of the cleaning unit and finally blows it
controller). BLDC Electronic Speed Controller is specifically made away at the edge of the panel. Once the cleaning unit reaches the
for multi-rotors purpose and provides faster and better motor speed upper end of it, it again returns back and continues the process until
control compared to other available ESCs. the Robot reaches the left side final edge of the PV array. Once it
reaches the top of the array, the cleaning unit stops there. Then the
locomotion units come into action and release the suction cup which
keeps the system in rest. Then the wheels move in the direction
parallel to the edge of the solar panel until it reaches the part of the
panel that is not cleaned.
 The entire system runs Automatically as programmed in the
Micro-controller. The proximity sensor senses the edge of the panel
and rotates to move towards un-cleaned side of Array. wheels are
controlled by the DC motor.
VII. CONCLUSION
The suction part is done by BLDC motor run in reverse
mechanism ,act as an exhaust fan to blow the dust out. Output of
this module is to remove the dust particles over the panel and The prototype of the Automatic solar panel cleaning
improve its efficiency. Robot with an traction control Algorithm has been successfully
implemented. Arduino controller acts as the brain of the prototype
controlling all functions. It works continuously without any human
VI. PROCESS LOGIC intervention. Finally a portable cleaning mechanism is designed
which can travel through the entire length of the panel.

Ladder logic is used to program the Micro-controller.. Module

naming are given below: REFERENCES
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