Evaluation of the adhesion forces between dust particles and photovoltaic module surfaces

Soiling of Photovoltaic (PV) modules is a growing area of concern due to the adverse effect of dust accumulation on PV performance and reliability. In this work, we report on four fundamental adhesion forces that take place at the first stage of soiling process. These are capillary, van der Waal, el...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy materials and solar cells 2019-03, Vol.191, p.413-421
Main Authors: Isaifan, Rima J., Johnson, Daniel, Ackermann, Luis, Figgis, Benjamin, Ayoub, Mohammed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesion
Adhesion tests
Atomic Force Spectroscopy
Capillary force
Dust
Dust particles
Electrostatic properties
Glass substrates
Gravity
Humidity
Modules
Particulate matter
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaics
Qatar
Relative humidity
Soiling mechanism
Soils
Solar cells
Solar energy
Solar panels
Surface roughness
Surface roughness effects
Thin films
vander Waal
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Summary:Soiling of Photovoltaic (PV) modules is a growing area of concern due to the adverse effect of dust accumulation on PV performance and reliability. In this work, we report on four fundamental adhesion forces that take place at the first stage of soiling process. These are capillary, van der Waal, electrostatic and gravitational forces. It is found that under high relative humidity, the adhesion mechanism between dust particles and PV module surfaces is dominated by capillary force, while van der Waal force dominates under dry conditions. Moreover, real field data for long soiling periods over solar panels in Qatar were investigated and resulted in proposing a novel modified sigmoid function that predicts a relative humidity inflexion value at which transition in the particulate matter deposition rate takes place from low to high values. Moreover, the effect of surface roughness was investigated by measuring adhesion force over clean glass versus substrates that are coated with in-house developed anti-dust titania thin films. •Capillary adhesion force dominates under high relative humidity.•Gravitational adhesion force is negligible for small dust particles.•Novel modified sigmoid function of 18 months of real field data supports domination of capillary force at high RH.•Surface roughness reduces adhesion force.•Anti dust coatings reduces adhesion force.
ISSN:0927-0248
1879-3398
DOI:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.11.031