Effect of dust particles size on Photovoltaic module (PV) performance

This study explores the effect of different size of dust particles accumulation onto the PV module performance. In which size properties of four kinds of dust particle samples (45 µm, 125 µm, 250 µm and 355 µm) is used to assess their impact on electrical and optical properties. In sieve analysis, a major portion of the very fine sand particles (73%) has been observed. The obtained results indicate that variation of physical parameters (grain size) on PV performance in terms of output electric power and light transmission. It has been concluded that small fine particles significantly deteriorate the performance of PV module, more so than coarser particles.