Cost-effective PV panel cleaning system controlled by raspberry PI using image processing

Recently, automation systems for technology-equipped renewable energy sources have come to the fore. However, these are often complex and costly. Since PV investment costs are high, it is of great importance to design and operate PV panels at the highest efficiency. The efficiency of PV is affected by two major factors. One of them is the tracking problem. Panels should meet the sun’s radiation as vertically as possible. Therefore, panels should optimally orient themselves to track the sun’s radiation as vertically as possible. Additionally, a significant concern arises from energy losses attributable to inadequate absorption of solar radiation, which is exacerbated by the gradual contamination of surface areas over time. Surface areas can become covered with unwanted debris and accumulations like snow, dust or bird droppings. An automation system is proposed using Raspberry Pi which controls the cleaning process of PV panels due to connected servo motors for selected sprinkler activation. Image through the replaced camera is taken. The obtained image is analyzed with python codes using methods defined in the Open CV library. The PV panel image is divided into four equal areas for analysis. And the pollution status of the region on each area is analyzed separately by the developed program codes. If one of the areas is covered with dust or snow, the sprinkler aimed at that area sprays pressurized water with the control of Raspberry Pi. The proposed PV cleaning system is analyzed and compared with conventional systems. It is seen, that the proposed system is simple, cost efficient and durable against the conventional used systems.