Impact Estimation of Cotton Dust and other Environmental Factors on Solar Panels in Textile Industry

The increasing power demand all around the world shifted industries to renewables. The textile sector holds an important position in Pakistan?s economy and exports. Many textile industries have installed solar power plants to fulfill their power demand. In textile industries, exposure to cotton

Project Title

Impact Estimation of Cotton Dust and other Environmental Factors on Solar Panels in Textile Industry

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

The increasing power demand all around the world shifted industries to renewables. The textile sector holds an important position in Pakistan’s economy and exports. Many textile industries have installed solar power plants to fulfill their power demand. In textile industries, exposure to cotton dust is one of the major issues. The deposition of cotton dust on solar panels decreases output power and conversion efficiency as low irradiance reaches the outer surface of the panel thus resulting in performance degradation of solar panels. This project aims to experimentally investigate the performance deterioration of solar panels caused by cotton dust and other environmental factors which includes wind, humidity, and temperature variations.

Project Objectives

The aim and objectives of the project are listed below:

1. Design a robust testing chamber to estimate the effect of cotton dust on the solar panel.
2. Estimate the effect of different cotton dust levels on solar panels.
3. Impact estimation of other environmental factors on the performance degradation of solar panels.

Project Implementation Method

To perform testing, we have developed control testing chambers. The top of the main chamber is porous to mdel the natural incoming of dust particles in the main chamber. We have made another chamber through which cotton dust blows and through pipes, it will get a pathway to enter into the main chamber. Inside the main chamber, we have placed a metallic arc to model the impact of the sunlight artificially. For single-axis tracking, we have used a 5W polycrystalline solar panel and connected it with a stepper motor for precise angle control. We have designed a control panel for our electronic circuitry, sensors, and displays. By using sensors, we can measure current, voltages, humidity, temperature variation, and cotton dust in a testing chamber. After performing tests all the data will be recorded and simultanouely a high resolution camera will be recording the whole process inside the chamber.

Benefits of the Project

The surge to strengthen clean and green energy competitiveness has resulted in massive utilization of renewable energy by manufacturers globally. Likewise, the Pakistani Textile Industry, being the largest manufacturing industry in the country has always been open to adopting newer and ef?cient technologies. Realizing the potential of solar power, the textile industry has deployed solar energy systems on a massive scale. The estimation of various cotton dust levels on solar panels creates insight that supports decision-making. By collecting and analyzing data from experiments we will predict how much the efficiency of the PV module reduces. These results will open new doors for technology advancements and smart solutions in the domain of solar power generation.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The technical details of our final project are as follows:

1. A 2 cubic metre artificial experimental environment is developed.

2. Effect of Sun, humidity and cotton dust is modelled inside the artificial chamber.

3.  An actuating platform is designed for single axis tracking of 5W solar panel.

4. Cotton dust is deposited through airborne passage via secondary chamber.

5.  Sun is modelled through warm halogen lights which turn on and off periodically.

6. A control panel is designed to access the readings of all the sensors and to control the experimental setup.

7. Data visualization is done through the data obtained from the sensors.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Manufacturing

Core Technology

Clean Tech

Other Technologies

Others

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

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