Dust cleaning robots (DCR) for BIPV and BAPV solar power plants-A conceptual framework and research challenges

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to design and develop robots for addressing the soiling or the dust cleaning issue on the building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and building applied photovoltaics (BAPV). BIPV and BAPV turn the present and future buildings (high rise or low rise) into power stations with the introduction of photovoltaics either in the façade (90° wall) or roof (flat or pitched) configuration. But one of the significant challenges that influence the energy performance is the dust accumulation. This is a serious issue in the places where air pollution is very high. Addressing this would be very difficult for the human workforce, and the complexity and tediousness would increase depending on the size of the BIPV and BAPV array or the height of the building. Currently, there are few dust cleaning robots which could offer services in addressing the soiling issues in conventional photovoltaic installations. The existing dust cleaning robots (DCR) could not offer a better feasible solution in BIPV and BAPV as they offered in traditional PV systems that were installed in an open area. Hence for addressing dust cleaning issue, some novel conceptual schemas related to robot developments were proposed in this paper considering the installation configuration of PV systems for building applications. Here, DCR’s for three configuration of PV installation with building applications namely BIPV/BAPV façade, BIPV/BAPV horizontal roof, and BIPV/BAPV pitched roof are dealt. The proposed conceptual robots were briefly described with the schematic views highlighting operation, energy consumptions, and slipping issue etc. Scope for the development and various research challenges that are to be considered during the design stage are highlighted along with the discussio

BIPV power plants and policy recommendatons

The radiant light energy from the sun is converted into useful electricity using photovoltaic technology. Harnessing solar energy is simple and easy operation with the installation of PV modules in various configurations (open rack, roof mount, tracking, building integrated, building applied, floating). Among these configurations, BIPV is the most trending and ecologically efficient installation methods. This paper presents a study on the building integrated photovoltaic systems with the electric power system classification. This classification includes on-grid, off-grid, and hybrid BIPV power plants. The studied three classifications were compared in terms of the operation, components, installation configuration etc. General recommendations and various policy options for BIPV are also discussed. This study shows, BIPV power systems discussed in three combinations would contribute to the energy needs of the developed/developing nations by adding pleasing look to the buildings without having negative impacts on the ecology

BIPV market growth: SWOT Analysis and favorable factors

Building integrated photovoltaics is an advanced and newly emerged technology in the photovoltaic industry focusing on the application of power generation as well as the building infrastructure. In recent years PV systems have seen huge market potentials, and these are depended on various factors. Like PV systems, the market growth for BIPV is also influenced by various factors. In this paper, an analysis is carried out on such factors that leads to the BIPV market expansions. Primarily, SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis of BIPV is analyzed in general way. Secondly, all the favorable factors were grouped and classified under six categories. These factors include the Energy, Sustainable Built Environment, Architecture & Design, Material & Civil Structure, Economic Gains, and Safety & Security. Finally, these factors were clearly discussed, and conclusions were made which would help in the BIPV growth

Surface Morphology and Thermo-Electrical Energy Analysis of Polyaniline (PANI) Incorporated Cotton Fabric

With the exponential development in wearable electronics, a significant paradigm shift is observed from rigid electronics to flexible wearable devices. Polyaniline (PANI) is considered as a dominant material in this sector, as it is endowed with the optical properties of both metal and semiconductors. However, its widespread application got delineated because of its irregular rigid form, level of conductivity, and precise choice of solvents. Incorporating PANI in textile materials can generate promising functionality for wearable applications. This research work employed a straightforward insitu chemical oxidative polymerization to synthesize PANI on Cotton fabric surfaces with varying dopant (HCl) concentrations. Pre-treatment using NaOH is implemented to improve the conductivity of the fabric surface by increasing the monomer absorption. This research explores the morphological and structural analysis employing SEM, FTIR and EDX. The surface resistivity was measured using a digital multimeter, and thermal stability is measured using TGA. Upon successful polymerization, a homogenous coating layer is observed. It is revealed that the simple pre-treatment technique significantly reduces the surface resistivity of Cotton fabric to 1.27 kΩ/cm with increasing acid concentration and thermal stability. The electro-thermal energy can also reach up to 38.2°C within 50s with a deployed voltage of 15V. The modified fabric is anticipated to be used in thermal regulation, supercapacitor, sensor, UV shielding, antimicrobial and other prospective functional applications

A Brief Review on Thermal Behaviour of PANI as Additive in Heat Transfer Fluid

Since a decade ago, investigation on nanofluids has grown significantly owing to its enhanced thermal properties compared to conventional heat transfer fluids. This engineered nanofluid has been widely used in the thermal engineering system to improve their energy consumption by improving the thermal efficiency of the system. The addition of nano-size particles as additives dispersed in the base fluids proved to significantly either improve or diminish the behaviour of the base fluids. The behaviour of the base fluid highly depends on the properties of the additives material, such as morphology, size, and volume fraction. Among the variety of nanoparticles studied, the conducting polymers have been subject of high interest due to its high environmental stability, good electrical conductivity, antimicrobial, anti-corrosion property and significantly cheap compared to other nanoparticles. As such, the main objective of the present review is to provide an overview of the work performed on thermal properties performance of conducting polymers based nanofluids

Nickel nanowire: magnetic ordering synthesis

Magnetic nanowires have been material of interest among researchers due to their unique magnetic properties. In the present research, Nickel (Ni) nanowires with an average diameter of 250 nm and length up to 25 μm have been successfully prepared via anodic alumina oxide (AAO) template-assisted electrodeposition method at the different magnetic field intensities and current density. The primary interest is to investigate the effect of the external magnetic field and current density on the morphological, growth length, crystal orientation and growth of the Ni nanowires. Investigation finding reveals that the employed magnetic field and current density smoothened the surface texture, improved growth length and reduced the crystal size. The observed changes are believed to be contributed by the interaction forces induced by the intensity of applied electric field and the external magnetic field known as magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect

Statistical model for impact and energy absorption of 3D printed coconut Wood-PLA

Fused deposition modeling (FDM)-3D printing has been the favored technology to build functional components in various industries. The present study investigates infill percentage and infill pattern effects on the printed parts’ impact properties through the 3D printing technique using coconut wood-filled PLA composites. Mathematical models are also proposed in the present study with the aim for future property prediction. According to the ASTM standard, fifteen specimens with different parameter combinations were printed using a low-cost FDM 3D printer to evaluate their impact properties. Statistical analysis was performed using MINITAB to validate the experimental data and model development. The experimental outcomes reveal the honeycomb pattern with 75% infill density achieves the highest energy absorption (0.837 J) and impact energy (5.1894 kJ/m2). The p-value from statistical analysis clearly shows that all the impact properties are less than the alpha value of 0.05, suggesting all the properties are vital to determine the impact properties. The validation process affirms that the generated mathematical model for the energy absorbed and the impact energy is reliable at an acceptable level to predict their respective properties. The errors between the experimental value and the predicted value are 3.98% for the energy absorbed and 4.06% for impact energy. The findings are expected to provide insights on the impact behavior of the coconut wood-filled PLA composites prepared by FDM-3D printing and a mathematical model to predict the impact properties

Morphological analysis of Polyaniline (PANI) integrated cotton fabric

With the exponential growth of flexible electronics, conductive polymer Polyaniline has been acting as a protagonist since its discovery. Polyaniline is endowed with optical and electrical conductivity, a low-cost synthesis process, and environmental stability. However, the irregular, rigid form and specific choice of solvents often hinder its widespread application. The conductive fabric can be used in the field of flexible energy harvesting, sensing, electromagnetic shielding or many more functional applications. In this study, conductive cotton fabric was fabricated using a facile in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization of Aniline on a Cotton fabric surface. Doping was performed using HCl, maintaining three different concentrations levels (1M, 2M and 3M). The color of Polyaniline turned from Blue (Emeraldine Base) to Emerald Green (Emeraldine Salt) upon its successful formation. Visual analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis were performed to justify the homogeneity and bonding adhesion with the fabric surface. It is observed that, the deposition of Polyaniline is much uniform and homogenous with the increase of dopant concentration

Synthesis and characterization of polyethylene glycol-polymethyl methacrylate infused multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposite as an efficient thermal energy storage

Organic phase change materials (O-PCMs) are recommended thermal energy storage materials due to low super-cooling, non-corrosive in nature and no phase segregation. Nevertheless, the issue of low thermal conductivity and thermal stability in O-PCMs hinders their extensive use in thermal energy storage (TES). To address this problem, multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) is employed as nano conductive filler to improve thermal properties. In addition, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as supporting material is used to reduce the steric hindrance effect of the PEG-1000 and enhance the chemical stability. In this research work, an ultrasonication technique is adopted to develop PEG-PMMA/MWCNT composite with different weight fractions of MWCNT to evaluate the optimum thermal conductivity. Moreover, morphological behaviour, chemical stability, optical absorptivity, thermal property & thermal reliability of developed PEG-PMMA/MWCNT composite are experimentally characterized and scientifically discussed. The highest thermal conductivity is found to be 92.30% at 0.7 wt% of MWCNT. Further, 500 thermal cycles were performed which confirmed the thermal reliability of developed nanocomposites