28014 231990 Madrid - Spain Dubai - UAE

Analysisoftheinfluenceof dirtonPVmodules

1 AnalysisoftheinfluenceofdirtonPVmodules


28014 231990 Madrid - Spain Dubai - UAE

Index
1. 2. Introductin.......................................................................................................................... 3 RevisedArticles..................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. CalculationofthePVmodulesangularlossesunderfieldconditionsbymeansofan analyticalmodel.N.Martin,J.M.Ruiz[1]................................................................................. 3 2.2. Effectofdustwithdifferentphysicalpropertiesontheperformanceofphotovoltaic cells.M.S.ElShobokshy,F.M.Hussein[2]............................................................................... 3 2.3. Degradation of photovoltaic cell performance due to dust deposition on its surface.M.S.ElShobokshy,F.M.Hussein[3].................................................................17 2.4. Effects of Soiling on PV Module and Radiometer Performance.R. Hammond,D.Srinivasan,A.Harris,K.Whitfield,J.Wohlgemuth[4] ......................................24 2.5. Aeolian Dust Deposition on Photovoltaic Solar Cells: The Effects of Wind Velocity and Airborne Dust Concentration on Cell Performance.D. Goossens,E.VanKerschaever[5]............................................................................................ 25 3. Conclusions......................................................................................................................... 28

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1. Introduction
Inthisreport,wewillanalyzeseveralarticlesfromdifferentpublications,writtenbyanumber ofauthors,whohaveanalyzedtheinfluenceofdirtonPVmodulesandhowtocharacterize andmeasurethisdirt.

2. RevisedArticles
2.1. CalculationofthePVmodulesangularlossesunderfieldconditionsby

meansofananalyticalmodel.N.Martin,J.M.Ruiz[1]
A photovoltaic module presents angular losses in reference to their nominal behavior. This article seeks a mathematical model to quantify these losses. Several factors are considered such as direct radiation, diffuse radiation, the angle of incidence of the radiation, geographical location, and dirt. Considering the latter as a factor that takes on some values, or another, dependingonwhetheritismoderateorhigh, butdoesnotgo intodepthintheanalysisofthe effectofdirt.Thereforeitisnotpossibletogetanyvalidconclusionsfromthisstudy.
2.2. Effectofdustwithdifferentphysicalpropertiesontheperformanceof

photovoltaiccells.M.S.ElShobokshy,F.M.Hussein[2]

This article analyzes the effect caused by five different types of dirt (with different physical propertiesandcomponents),ontheperformanceofphotovoltaiccells. The research described is carried out in the laboratory, using halogen lamps of 1000 W each, placed at a distance of three meters from the PV cells, to simulate the effects of the sun. A ventilationsystemallowsthecontroloftheenergyemittedfromthesimulatorandmaintainsa maximumtemperatureofthepanelsof40C.Themaximumradiationintensityreachedis400 W/m2.ThepanelsusedaremodelM73,oftheArcobrand. Three different kinds of dirt are used: limestone, which is commonly found in the atmosphere as dust; cement, which is the main element in the constructions used and is present in the air at different concentrations, and coal from most of combustion processes, which can be found nearindustrialenvironments. In the case of limestone, three different particle sizes are used, so that analysis is done on a total basis, employing the effect of five different types of soil, (three limestone, cement and oneofcoal).Soilsampleshavebeensuitablypreparedinthelaboratoryandanalyzedunderan opticalmicroscopetodeterminetheirphysicalpropertiesandtheparticlesizes. The amount of dirt on the surface of the PV panels is determined by the weight difference between the dirty and clean panels with a precision scale and then divided by the area of the paneltogetg/m2.

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First, the normalized shortcircuit current of the panel is given, (using as reference the values of a clean cell), depending on the amount of dust deposited, to the five kinds of dirt considered, and to a received radiation of 195 W/m2. The dirt, besides its density, is characterizedbythediameteroftheparticles(asshowninthelegendbelow):

Figure.4.1:Variationinshortcircuitcurrentintensitywithdustdepositiondensityforthefivetypesof dirtused.

The Article's authors deduced that the degradation of photovoltaic performance depends not only on the density of accumulated dust, but also on the type of powder, as well as size distribution. Also, the finest dust particles have a greater effect on the performance deterioration than the thicker particles. This was attributed to the fact that fine particles are distributed more evenly, leaving less space between them where light can pass. They could appreciate that the slope of the curves corresponding to fine particles is slightly larger than those corresponding to the thick ones, so that the performance of PV cells are more sensitive totheaccumulationofdustparticlesofthefirsttype.

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Inasimilarwayitisshownthattheproducedpowerversusthedensityofdeposited dust:

Figure4.2:Variationofproducedpowerwithdustdensityaccumulatedtothefivetypeofdirtused

They observed a similar behavior to that of the short circuit current, so that all of the above is alsovalidhere. The conclusions drawn by the authors of the article after the completion and analysis of the resultsofthetrialwere: The accumulation of dust on the surface of photovoltaic panels affects their performance. Information is required regarding the type of deposited dust, (type of material, size distributionanddensityofdeposit),toquantifyitseffectonthepowerproduced. Both the short circuit intensity as well as the produced power decreases more quickly withthedepositofsmallamountsoffinerparticles. Losses are higher with cement, and even worse with coal, as they absorb a large amount of radiation. It takes only a density of 28 g/m2 of coal to reduce the short circuitcurrentby20%. From the data obtained from this article, our own study has been performed regarding the derivative behaviors, (trend according to density), of the variation of both the shortcircuit current,aswellasthepowerproduced. For that, the data supplied by the graphs in Figures 4.1 and 4.2 have been taken, and have been introduced into an Excel file. The data have been correlated by two types of regressions (polynomialandexponential),inordertosubsequentlyperformthederivatives

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Theresultsareshownbelow:
Fortheshortcircuitintensity:

Figur e 4.3: Variation of the intensity of normalized short circuit with the density of deposited dust, for the fivetypesofdirt.

Figure4.4:Variationandderivativeshortcircuitcurrent,normalizedtodepositeddustdensityfora particlesizeof80m,andpolynomialregression.

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Figure 4.5: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density for aparticlesizeof80m,andwithexponentialregression.

Figure4.6:Variationandderivativeofshortcircuitcurrentnormalizedwithdepositeddustdensity foraparticlesizeof60m,andpolynomialregression.

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Figure 4.7: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density foraparticlesizeof60m,andwithexponentialregression.

Figure 4.8: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density foraparticlesizeof50m,andpolynomialregression .

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Figure 4.9: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density foraparticlesizeof50m,andwithexponentialregression.

Figure 4.10: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density foraparticlesizeof10m,andpolynomialregression.

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Figure4.11:Variationandderivativeofshortcircuitcurrentnormalizedwithdepositeddustdensityfora particlesizeof10mandwithexponentialregression.

Figure 4.12: Variationand derivative of short circuit current, normalized to depositeddustdensity foraparticlesizeof5m,andpolynomialregression.

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Figure 4.13: Variation and derivative of short circuit current, normalized to deposited dust density foraparticlesizeof5m,andwithexponentialregression.

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Fortheproducedpower:

Figure4.14:Variationofnormalizedpowerwithdepositeddustdensity.

Figure4.15:Variation and derivative of the power not deposited for aparticle size of80 normalizedto dustdensitymandwithpolynomialregression.

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Figure 4.16: Variation and derivative of the normalized power with deposited dust density for a particlesizeof80m,andwithexponentialregression

Figure4.17:Variationandderivativeofthepowernotdepositedforaparticlesizeof60m.

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Figure 4.18: Variation and derivative of the normalized power with deposited dust density for a particlesizeof60m,andwithexponentialregression.

Figure4.19:Variationandderivativeofthepowernotdepositedforaparticlesizeof50m

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Figure 4.20: Variation and derivative of the normalized power with deposited dust density for a particlesizeof50m,andwithexponentialregression.

Figure4.21:Variationandderivativeofthepowernotdepositedforaparticlesizeof10m.

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Figure 4.22: Variation and derivative of the normalized power with deposited dust density for a particlesizeof10mandwithexponentialregression.

Figure4.23:Variationandderivativeofthepowernotdepositedforaparticlesizeof5m

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Figure 4.24: Variation and derivative of the normalized power with deposited dust density for a particlesizeof5mandwithexponentialregression.

In the graphs of the derivatives it can be observed, as expected, that the slope is higher for small accumulations, regardless of the particle size (either by analyzing the curve Isc/Im or of P/Pclean). That is to say, there is an asymptomatic behavior of the slope with the accumulation of dirt, so that as the amount of dirt deposited is increased, the slope increases, but gradually, less sharply untilitreachesapointinwhichitpracticallyremainsconstant. This shows a result that, the increase in the amount of deposited dirt will have a greater effect when this increase is performed with respect to a small amount than with respect to a bigger amount. That is, if we increase the amount of dirt applied by 25 g/m2, to a previouslyexisting quantity of 50 g/m2, the loss that occurs both in the shortcircuit intensity and in the power is greater than if we were to increase 25 g / m2 to a situation in which previouslyapplied dirt was of75g/m2.

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2.3. Degradation

of photovoltaic cell performance due to dust deposition on its surface.M.S.ElShobokshy,F.M.Hussein[3]

This article studies the effects of dirt on the performance of a solar cell by applying previously prepareddirt. The research is carried out in the laboratory, using 1000watt halogen lamps to simulate the effects of the sun, placed at some distance from the PV cells. A ventilation system allows the control the energy emitted from the simulator and maintains a maximum temperature of the panels of 35 C. The maximum radiation intensity reached is 400 W/m2. The panels used are modelM73,oftheArcobrand. For the preparation of the dirt, milled dried limestone is used. The sample is suitably prepared and analyzed in the laboratory under an optical microscope, in order to determine its physical propertiesandtheparticlesize. The quantity of dirt on the surface of the PV panels is determined by the weight difference between the dirty and clean panel with a precision scale, and then divided by the area of the paneltogetg/m2. Byapplyingdirttothesurfaceofthepanels,theauthorsobtainedfollowingresults:

Figure4.25:IVCharacteristicsofthePVcellfordifferentdepositeddustdensities

This figure shows the IV curve of the PV cell for different densities of limestone dirt, working underaradiationof195W/m2

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Whenthepanelwasclean,ithadashortcircuitcurrentvalueof300mA.Whenthedirtbeganto accumulate on the surface, this value started to decrease, reaching 50 mA for a density of 253 g/m2. In order to analyze the reasons for the reductions in the short circuit current, the current was represented as normalized, (using as the reference the value corresponding to the clean panel), dependingontheaccumulationofdirt:

Figure4.26:Variationoftheshortcircuitcurrentwiththeaccumulateddustdensity

Anonlinearcurrentreductionwasobservedrelatedtothedensityofaccumulateddust

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Figure4.27:Variationofthemaximumpowerproducedwithaccumulateddustdensity.

This figure shows the effect of dust accumulation on the power produced by the solar panel. Therewasapowerreductionof12%,(withrespecttotheperformanceofacleanpanel),whenit hadadensityof253g/m2ofdepositeddust. Theconclusionsobtainedbytheauthorsafterthecompletionofthetestwere:

The accumulation of dirt on the surface of photovoltaic panels reduces the power producedbythem. The degree of deterioration depends on the mass of dust particles per area unit of the panel. Dirt with an average diameter of 80 m and a density of 250 g/m2 reduces the short circuit current by 82% and the obtained power by 84%. As can be seen here, the reductioninshortcircuitintensityandpowerareofthesameorder.

Thisarticlewaspreparedpriortothepreviousone,whosescopeismorereduced.Wecansee thattheconclusionsrepresentonepartofthetestsperformedsubsequently.

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2.4. Effects of Soiling on PV Module and Radiometer Performance.R.

Hammond,D.Srinivasan,A.Harris,K.Whitfield,J.Wohlgemuth[4]
This article analyzes the effect of dirt on PV modules and radiometers, for which three separate studieshavebeenperformed,consideringsoilingperiodsrangingfrom16monthsto5years.The experimentwaslocatedinaruralareaofPhoenix,Arizona. Thestudiesperformedareasfollows: 3 systems (fixed, 2 axis tracker, 1 axis tracker), which remained uncleaned for up to five years. 3PVmodules,oneofwhichwasnotcleanedduringthedurationoftheexperiment,while the other two were cleaned in time slots of 1 to 3 months just prior to the measurements. 3 pairs of 3 PV modules from different manufacturers, with three pairs of different radiometers (6 total). Each pair of modules had its two corresponding radiometers. In each pair, a set of module / radiometer remained uncleaned, while the other one was cleanedtwiceaweek.

Thearticle'sauthorsreachedthefollowingconclusions:

Thesoilingduetobirddroppingsismuchmoreseriousthanthatduetodust. For modules with a normal incidence angle to the sun, dirt produces a maximum loss in theshortcircuitintensityof3%betweenperiodsofrain. Whenitrains,modulesrecover1%oftheirpower. Dirteffectsarehigherwhentheradiationincidenceangleincreases Theradiometerslossesrangedfrom2%to6%,dependingonthetopology. The cleaning of both, modules and radiometers, can be effective in economic terms, especiallyconsideringsoilingduetobirddroppings.

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2.5. Aeolian Dust Deposition on Photovoltaic Solar Cells: The Effects of Wind Velocity and Airborne Dust Concentration on Cell Performance.D.Goossens,E.VanKerschaever[5]
In this article, the experiments were conducted with a wind tunnel, in order to analyze the effect of wind speed and dust concentration in the air to the drop of a PV cell performance caused by the accumulation of dust thereon. Four different wind speeds are used, (maintaining a constant concentration of dust in the air), and four different airborne dust concentrations, (maintaining a constantwindspeed). Wind speed effects: Thegraphicsandresultsobtainedbytheauthorsforthisarticleregardingtheeffectofwind speedareshownbelow:

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Figure 4.38: Variation of: (A) shortcircuit current,(B) open circuit voltage, (C) maximum output power, (D) percentage of radiation reduction, (E) power factor, with time of accumulation (left) and the quantity of depositeddust(right),fordifferentvaluesofwindspeed.

The graphs on the left show the evolution of: the short circuit intensity (Isc), the open circuit voltage (Voc), the maximum power (Pmx), the solar intensity received by the PV cell (R), and the factor power (FF) as function of sedimentation time. That is, the representations of the effect of thosestormparametersofdifferentwindspeeds. The graphs on the right represent the same parameters in function of the amount of dust accumulated on the surface of the PV cells. Therefore, they show the effect of sedimentation of dustasaresultofdifferentwindspeedsonthementionedparameters. Figures A1E1 show that the aerodynamic effect of the wind to the decrease of cell performance is considerable. Degradation due to dust accumulation is increased with wind speed for all the parameters analyzed, except for the power factor, which does not seem to follow a systematic variationinviewofthetimeintervalconsidered. FiguresA2E2showsthattheeffectofsedimentationcausedbywindissmall,butsystematic.The lowerthewindspeed,thehigherthedropinperformanceofPVcells,duetotheaccumulationof dust.AlocalalterationofthistrendinthediagramsinVocandFFisobserved,butthegeneral ideaisclear.Apparently,thelighttransmissionthroughthelayerofdustcreatedatlowwind speedsislessthanthatcreatedbyhigherwindspeeds.

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Airborne dust concentration effects: Graphssimilartotheabovewereobtained,butanalyzingthedifferentparametersofthecell comparedto4differentdirtconcentrations:

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Figure 4.39: Variation of: (A) shortcircuit current,(B) open circuit voltage, (C) maximum output power, (D) percentage of radiation reduction, (E) power factor, with time of accumulation (left) and the quantity of depositeddust(right),fordifferentvaluesofairbornedustconcentration.

Figures A1E1 show that air containing a high concentration of dust produces a higher degradation thataircontaininglessquantitiesofdust.This trendissimilarinalldiagrams,except for the power factor. While Figures A2E2 show that the sedimentation caused by the dust concentration in the air does not affect the performance drop, except perhaps in the case of the opencircuit voltage, where small concentrations of dust seem to cause higher drops of performance. In general, the concentration of dust in air does not seem to affect the transmission of light throughthedustlayerdepositedonPVcells. Thearticle'sauthorsreachedthefollowingconclusionsafteranalyzingtheresults: Deposit (and accumulation) of fine dust particles in suspension on the module surface affectssignificantlytheperformanceofPVcells. The wind speed produces an important impact on the performance of a PV cell. High wind speeds produce high dust accumulation on the cell, resulting in a sharp drop in performance. In case of low wind speeds, the accumulation of dust is smaller, and the drop in performance of the cell is lower. The wind also affects the sedimentation of suspendeddustandthereforethedustlayerformedonthesurfaceofthePVcells. The light transmission is bigger for layers of dust created with high wind speeds to those formed by lighter winds, causing a greater drop in performance during light winds.

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Experiments indicate that this effect is less important than the previous one, so in general,thedropofthePVcellefficiencyishigherforhighwindspeeds. The concentration of dust in the air also affects the drop of PV cell performance. High concentrationsleadtohighdustaccumulationonthesurfaceofthecell.Howeveritdoes notseemtoaffectlighttransmissionthroughtheformedlayerofdust.

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3. Conclusions
The search for and review of articles has revealed that most published studies and research on solar thermal and photovoltaic devices usually have focused on the study of radiation available, design and size of the systems, efficient operation strategies, as well as the parameters that affect the performance of such systems as: climatic and geographical factors, orientation, slope and geometric parameters of the devices, the working fluid, manufacture and materials used, etc.. We found several thousand publications related to this issue, coming from a large number of investigations that have analyzed and discussed in detail the performance characteristics of varioustypesoftechnologies.However,therearefewstudiesthatexaminetheeffectsofdirtand dustaccumulation.Theproblemhasnotbeenwellinvestigatedyet. Themostimportantconclusionsobtainedafterreadingthearticlesare: Generic conclusions:

The effect of dust was analyzed only considering a homogeneous distribution thereof. The effect caused by the dust in the event that it is forming "spots" on the surface, leading to the existence of areas of the cell having a greater amount of dust than others, has not been considered at any moment. This situation arises, for example, due to the inclination of the modules that makes dust tend to accumulate at the bottom. Also, the effectsupontheconnectionofmoduleswithdifferentlevelsofdirtwerenotconsidered. All of the authors characterize the degree of existing dirt on the surface of the devices based on their mass / area, or, in similar fashion, on the density of accumulated dust (g/m2);somecomplementedwiththeparticletypeorsize(m). None of the studies characterize the degree of dirt of a photovoltaic module by the reduction caused in the level of irradiance that reaches to the surface, by comparing a clean module with a dirty one. The latter, in the case it were possible, would be much more practical and realizable, since the irradiance received by the panels is easy to measure with the instrumentation available today, while determining the density of accumulateddusting/m2ismuchmoretediousandlessautomated. The quantity of dust deposited on a surface depends on many factors, such as the concentration of dust in the atmosphere, orientation and inclination of the devices, geographical location of the plant, existence of agricultural and industrial activities nearby, wind direction and intensity, season, climatology, etc. This has led to the undertaking of different types of tests and experiments, with different types of
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AnalysisoftheinfluenceofdirtonPVmodules

considerations as to the parameters mentioned above, even the use of wind tunnels to simulatedifferentspeeds.Becauseoftheseparameters,theestimationofdustquantities in a certain period is very difficult to perform with precision. Even its measurement in a photovoltaicplantisnoteasytoobtainaccurately. The accumulation of dust on the surface of solar devices has a significant effect on the performance thereof, as it causes a decrease in transmissivity. This decrease in transmissivity through a glass according to the density of accumulated dust in g/m2 has been quantified by several authors. So, for an amount of deposited dust of 8.45 g/m2 a reductionoftransmissivityof28%isobtained. The decrease experienced by glass transmissivity due to dirt increases as the amount of accumulated dust increases, that is, that if the amount of dust deposited on the glass surface is doubled in a particular situation, transmissivity is not reduced to half the value it previously experienced, but it is somewhat less than twice the initial value. Therefore, the slope of the reduction curve of the transmissivity in relation to the function of the density of dust is decreasing, although not linearly. This is because the particles tend to accumulatebetweenthemselvesinsteadofcoveringmoredevicearea. The quantity of dust that accumulates on the devices and, therefore, the transmissivity decrease, as a result of reduced accumulation of dirt, as the slope angle of the device increases, is due to the reduction of deposited dust quantity, also as a result of the interactionofgravity,whichmakestheparticlestendtorollonthesurface.

Conclusions for the case of PV cells and modules: Dustaccumulatedonthesurfaceofcellshasanegativeeffectonthepowerproduced. Thedecreasethatoccursisduetoadecreaseinshortcircuitcurrent,whiletheopen circuitvoltageisalmostconstant.

The degradation of PV modules caused by dust not only depends on the accumulated dustdensity,butalsothetypeofdust,plussizedistribution.Also,thefinerparticleshave a bigger deterioration effect than the thicker particles. This is attributed to the fact that fine particles are distributed more evenly, leaving less space between them where light can pass. All this is reflected in the results obtained by ElHussein Shobokshy and [2]. So, foraquantityofdustof100g/m2oflimestone,anintensityofnormalizedshortcircuitof 0.29, 0.37 and 0.53 for particle diameters of 50 m, 60 m and 80 m, respectively, was obtained. The effect is even worse if the particles are of cement, and even more if they are of coal. To achieve a reduction of the short circuit intensity of 20%, it was necessary tocreateadepositofcoalparticlesofonly28g/m2,comparedto72g/m2,125g/m2(50 m),168g/m2(60 m)and230g/m2(80m)thatwerenecessaryinthecaseofcement andlimestone,respectively.
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AnalysisoftheinfluenceofdirtonPVmodules

This effect of dust in the short circuit intensity and therefore in the produced power of the module becomes less pronounced with increasing amounts of accumulated dust (g/m2). That is, the curve slopes of the short circuit intensityaccumulated dust density andpowerdensitygraduallydecrease,althoughnotlinearly. Finally,needlesstosay,therehavebeenonlyafewstudiesfoundontheeffectofdustin rainyregions.Givenlowlossratesduetodirtanddustinthoseareas,washeffectsare producedbyrainandsnowareobserved.

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