Robotic dry cleaner for photovoltaic solar panels: an implemented design that evaluated in iraq's weather

Arabian desert areas are suffered from high mitigation in the produced photovoltaic (PV) power due to high dusty weather. This article presents a robotic cleaner that will significantly reduce the impact of dust on the installed PV systems in these areas. The proposed robotic cleaner is simple, low cost, standalone, self-powered, portable, and connected to the cloud. ESP32 used as a controller that manages the cleaning process and monitors its PV power production, the battery's state of charge, time of the day, and weather conditions. Thanks to the ESP32 features and its ability to connect to the cloud, as an internet of things (IoT), via the ThingSpeak website. All the electrical, mechanical, and electronic design aspects are presented and implemented in this article. The results show the effectiveness and performance enhancement due to periodic cleaning using the proposed robotic cleaner. The results also show that the total percentage of the monthly normalized accumulated losses for the two scheduled cleaning photovoltaic strings with a performance improvement of 15.54% for the weekly cleaned string (WCS) 83.04% for the never cleaned string (NCS) through the tested month

Unlocking Solar Power For Surveillance A Review Of Solar Powered CCTV And Surveillance Technologies

Solar-powered surveillance technologies have gained prominence for their sustainable, autonomous, and versatile solutions. This comprehensive review explores three key solar-powered surveillance technologies: solar-powered CCTV cameras, solar drones, and solar-powered sensor networks. Each technology offers distinct strengths and weaknesses, making them suitable for various applications. Solar-powered CCTV cameras provide adaptability, energy independence, and rapid deployment, while solar drones offer an aerial perspective, extended endurance, and versatility. Solar-powered sensor networks excel in localized environmental monitoring. The choice of technology depends on factors such as the surveillance environment, budget constraints, required surveillance range, and specific monitoring needs. Organizations can benefit from hybrid solutions that integrate multiple technologies for comprehensive coverage. Future trends include advanced energy storage solutions, AI integration, enhanced power efficiency, and cloud-based data analytics, promising to improve performance and sustainability. Public-private collaborations and sustainable urban planning initiatives will drive further adoption and integration. Solar-powered surveillance technologies empower effective and environmentally sustainable surveillance solutions, contributing to a safer and more sustainable future

Initial Analysis and Development of an Automated Maintenance System for Agrivoltaics Plants

Agrivoltaics power generation is the simultaneous use of agricultural land and photovoltaic panels. In such cases, the panels are placed more sparsely, compared to conventional photovoltaic plants. Furthermore, the panels might be mounted at higher heights, to provide the required space for the farm. Due to this arrangement of the panels in wide areas with crops on the farm, maintenance of the panels is a hard task. The major part of maintenance is to clean the panels, since the accumulation of farm dust and bird excrement can reduce the efficiency of the panels. In Agrivoltaics plants, the panels can be scattered, thus it is not economical for each panel to have a dedicated cleaning robot. This paper presents the initial design and analysis of an automated system for cleaning such power plants. This system consists of a robotic AGV, which transfers a panel cleaner between the photovoltaic panels mounted over the farms. The initial design is presented. Then, to anticipate the required power and control system, the carrier kinetics and kinematics are modeled and validated through simulations. Then, position and trajectory controllers are designed and simulations are presented. The simulations show desired performance for the introduced controlled system

Adaptive photovoltaic solar module based on internet of things and web-based monitoring system

This paper presents an intelligent of single axis automatic adaptive photovoltaic solar module. A static solar panel has an issue of efficiency on shading effects, irradiance of sunlight absorbed, and less power generates. This aims to design an effective algorithm tracking system and a prototype automatic adaptive solar photovoltaic (PV) module connected through internet of things (IoT). The system has successfully designated on solving efficiency optimization. A tracking system by using active method orientation and allows more power and energy are captured. The solar rotation angle facing aligned to the light-dependent resistor (LDR) voltage captured and high solar panel voltage measured by using Arduino microcontroller. Real-time data is collected from the dynamic solar panel, published on Node-Red webpage, and running interactive via android device. The system has significantly reduced time. Data captured by the solar panel then analyzed based on irradiance, voltage, current, power generated and efficiency. Successful results present a live data analytic platform with active tracking system that achieved larger power generated and efficiency of solar panel compared to a fixed mounted array. This research is significant that can help the user to monitor parameters collected by the solar panel thus able to increase 51.82% efficiency of the PV module

Towards a secure and resilient IoT architecture for smart home energy management

This paper examines the development of consumer IoT solutions for the control of electrical energy in the home. Use of smart appliances is at the centre of the UK Government’s strategy for managing CO2 emissions and domestic electricity demand. The current market for IoT-enabled products that control domestic lighting and heating is rapidly evolving with a range of devices already available. Development of demand side response solutions will see these devices and smart appliances being integrated into consumer energy management solutions. The paper examines the architecture and security implications of these developments, explores some of the security risks and identifies a number of mitigation measures. It concludes by identifying future work that is required to address the security threats, both in the home and to the electricity supply system

Functionality analysis of electric actuators in renewable energy systems - A review

Various mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, and hybrid actuators can alter motion per the requirements of particular applications. However, except for electrical ones, all actuators are restricted due to their size, complex auxiliary equipment, frequent need for maintenance, and sluggish environment in renewable applications. This brief review paper highlights some unique and significant research works on applying electrical actuators to renewable applications. Four renewable energy resources, i.e., solar, wind, bio-energy, and geothermal energy, are considered to review electric actuators applicable to renewable energy systems. This review analyses the types of actuators associated with the mentioned renewable application, their functioning, their motion type, present use, advantages, disadvantages, and operational problems. The information gathered in this paper may open up new ways of optimization opportunities and control challenges in electrical actuators, thereby making more efficient systems. Furthermore, some energy-efficient and cost-effective replacements of convectional actuators with new innovative ones are suggested. This work aims to benefit scientists and new entrants working on actuators in renewable energy systems.Web of Science2211art. no. 427

Performance evaluation of the photovoltaic system

The various renewable energy source technologies, Photovoltaics (PV) transforming sunlight directly into electricity, have become standard practice worldwide, especially in countries with high solar radiation levels. PV systems have been developed rapidly over recent years, and many new technologies have emerged from different producers. For each type of PV module, manufacturers provide specific information on rated performance parameters, including power at maximum power point (MPP), efficiency and temperature factors, all under standard solar test conditions (STC) 1000 W/m2. Air. In addition, the mass (AM) of 1.5 and the cell's temperature was 25 ̊C. Unfortunately, this grouping of environmental conditions is infrequently found in outdoor conditions. Also, the data provided by the manufacturers are not sufficient to accurately predict the performance of photovoltaic systems in various climatic conditions. Therefore, monitoring and evaluating the performance of the off-site systems is necessary. This thesis aims to overview various photovoltaic technologies, ranging from crystalline silicon (c-SI) to thin-film CdTe and GiCs. The following are the main parameters for evaluating the external units' performance to describe the PV systems' operation and implementation. In addition, a review of the impacts of various environmental and operational factors, such as solar radiation, temperature, spectrum, and degradation

A Multi-Source Harvesting System Applied to Sensor-Based Smart Garments for Monitoring Workers’ Bio-Physical Parameters in Harsh Environments

This paper describes the development and characterization of a smart garment for monitoring the environmental and biophysical parameters of the user wearing it; the wearable application is focused on the control to workers’ conditions in dangerous workplaces in order to prevent or reduce the consequences of accidents. The smart jacket includes flexible solar panels, thermoelectric generators and flexible piezoelectric harvesters to scavenge energy from the human body, thus ensuring the energy autonomy of the employed sensors and electronic boards. The hardware and firmware optimization allowed the correct interfacing of the heart rate and SpO2 sensor, accelerometers, temperature and electrochemical gas sensors with a modified Arduino Pro mini board. The latter stores and processes the sensor data and, in the event of abnormal parameters, sends an alarm to a cloud database, allowing company managers to check them via a web app. The characterization of the harvesting subsection has shown that ≈ 265 mW maximum power can be obtained in a real scenario, whereas the power consumption due to the acquisition, processing and BLE data transmission functions determined that a 10 mAh/day charge is required to ensure the device’s proper operation. By charging a 380 mAh Lipo battery in a few hours by means of the harvesting system, an energy autonomy of 23 days was obtained, in the absence of any further energy contribution

MODELING OF INNOVATIVE LIGHTER-THAN-AIR UAV FOR LOGISTICS, SURVEILLANCE AND RESCUE OPERATIONS

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft that can operate without the presence of pilots, either through remote control or automated systems. The first part of the dissertation provides an overview of the various types of UAVs and their design features. The second section delves into specific experiences using UAVs as part of an automated monitoring system to identify potential problems such as pipeline leaks or equipment damage by conducting airborne surveys.Lighter-than-air UAVs, such as airships, can be used for various applications, from aerial photography, including surveying terrain, monitoring an area for security purposes and gathering information about weather patterns to surveillance. The third part reveals the applications of UAVs for assisting in search and rescue operations in disaster situations and transporting natural gas. Using PowerSim software, a model of airship behaviour was created to analyze the sprint-and-drift concept and study methods of increasing the operational time of airships while having a lower environmental impact when compared to a constantly switched-on engine. The analysis provided a reliable percentage of finding the victim during patrolling operations, although it did not account for victim behaviour. The study has also shown that airships may serve as a viable alternative to pipeline transportation for natural gas. The technology has the potential to revolutionize natural gas transportation, optimizing efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Additionally, airships have a unique advantage in accessing remote and otherwise inaccessible areas, providing significant benefits in the energy sector. The employment of this technology was studied to be effective in specific scenarios, and it will be worth continuing to study it for a positive impact on society and the environment

Advanced photonic and electronic systems - WILGA 2017

WILGA annual symposium on advanced photonic and electronic systems has been organized by young scientist for young scientists since two decades. It traditionally gathers more than 350 young researchers and their tutors. Ph.D students and graduates present their recent achievements during well attended oral sessions. Wilga is a very good digest of Ph.D. works carried out at technical universities in electronics and photonics, as well as information sciences throughout Poland and some neighboring countries. Publishing patronage over Wilga keep Elektronika technical journal by SEP, IJET by PAN and Proceedings of SPIE. The latter world editorial series publishes annually more than 200 papers from Wilga. Wilga 2017 was the XL edition of this meeting. The following topical tracks were distinguished: photonics, electronics, information technologies and system research. The article is a digest of some chosen works presented during Wilga 2017 symposium. WILGA 2017 works were published in Proc. SPIE vol.10445