Output Degradation of PV Module Due to Dirt Spot & Method for its Mitigation

Contents
Introduction Problems due to spot dirt on a small module PV system Method for mitigating the problem Experiment Simulation and Results Conclusion References

Introduction
The output degradation characteristics of a small photovoltaic cell when a dirt spot adheres to the surface. The photovoltaic output power was found to be reduced by 50% when a 3% dirt area was applied to the small module.

The decrease in output power was shown to improve when the shape of the photovoltaic cell was changed.
Method for improving the power output is discussed with the help of simulation result.

Problems of small module of stand-alone PV system

Small-scale radio base stations at remote locations like mountains, require small photovoltaic module as stand-alone PV system. The output power of PV module is reduced when exhaust gas from vehicles and the coarse particles from atmosphere, adhere to the front cover of PV module. Also bird excrement, snow or spot dirt, significantly reduces the output. If a module array is used, the reduction in power generated by some modules in the array will not have adverse effect, since smoothening of power can be done. But for a system with only a single module the above process cannot be performed.

Equivalent circuit
The equivalent circuit contains, the parallel resistance Rsh by the leakage current, the inseries resistance Rs and the diode, the ohmic contact resistance, and the wiring resistance by the photo-electromotive force Iph. If the module surface is covered with dirt, the covered cell serves as a resistance component within the module, and a module output decreases significantly.

Experimental and Simulation Results

We can see that for a 60mm dirt spot the output current at max. power point decreases 60% (from 0.15 A to 0.06 A) when a patch of dirt is present.

Method for mitigating the problem

Output degradation mitigation can be mitigated by changing the aspect ratio of PV cell Circular dirt adhered to cells with different aspect ratios, 1.0, 0.25, 0.03 are shown. The area that is not covered with dirt spot increases as the cell shape become wider, thereby improving the output degradation problem

Experiment Conducted
For experimental and Simulation purpose, 13 W, PV module of 36 PV cells, with side dim. 103mm, cut into rectangles, with out changing the cell area. By designing a module with rectangular cell, a reduction in output degradation from sport dirt was identified.

Simulation Results

Conclusion
A GT434 small photovoltaic module was use for the study.
It is shown that output power is reduced 50% when a 3% dirt area covered the module It is also shown that by changing the aspect ratio the output degradation can be reduced more than that for a square cell.

References
[1] Shn-ichi Kobayashi, Yuichi Aoyama, Masatoshi Kano, Toshiaki Yachi, Simulation method for PV module Power Generation with Dirt Spots and Reduction of Output Degradation, 978-1-4244-1628-8/07, 2007 IEEE.

Thank You