....(continued) Or maybe there's a pully at each end of the row and a loop of steel cable drags the machine back and forth. DC- comes through the steel cable and DC+/ground is the aluminum frame of the solar panel. Or switch polarity around if there's a reason to, I'm assuming a positive ground because the panel mounting hardware must touch the earth. It only needs enough power to spin the brushes because the cable system pulls it along. Maybe the cable is just a cable and you have a separate power rail.
Maybe the brushes don't even need to spin. Just have the cable system drag a broom across the row. Sweep it back and forth several times if one pass isn't enough. Mount the broom at an angle with the top end leading and then dust will tend to fall off the bottom of the panel rather than dragging all the way to the end. OR have an air hose across the top of the panel with wide angle nozzles along the way facing towards the panel. Have a DC compressor suck a little power off the solar system to fill its tank. A couple times a day a solenoid valve on a timer opens up and the panels get blasted with air. That stops the brush dragging any sand that might scour up the glass. Compressed air might work for snow too. Building a robot is probably fun and all, but I just feel like there are a bunch of simple ways to do dust off the panels. IMO, for something that has to be maintained over time simple is usually best. And how much did they spend developing a robot vs what they would spend on some air hose and a solenoid valve? Could the robot actually be better enough to justify whatever it costs? -Adam -----Original Message----- From: dmmoff...@gmail.com <dmmoff...@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2023 10:27 AM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: RE: [AFMUG] Robot solar panel cleaners In short, it's a rechargeable thing that sits in it's docking station during the day. At night it rolls out along a row of panels and brushes them all off, then moves from row to row and eventually returns to its docking station. That's a very slick system, but I think it could be a lot simpler. Get brush rolls for vacuum cleaners and put a row of them on an axle as long as the width of the panels. Have a machine roll along the panels and spin the brushes along the way. It could carry a reel of power cord along with it. A belt and pulley sets the speed of the cord reel to sync with the wheels moving the thing along the panel, or it could be a spring loaded reel and just have enough traction and torque to pay out the whole thing. Don't try to have it move from row to row, just install one on each row. No intelligence, no batteries, no charging station, no software. An IR sensor at the end of the panel row triggers it to reverse direction and go back to home. An IR sensor at the home position triggers it to stop. If motor is over current, shut down and set an alarm relay. Over current should cover most of the crises that might develop, like the cord being caught, stuck wheels, or something jamming the brushes. Put a simple 3-sided weather housing at the home position. In the deluxe model add sensors to detect broken belts or other problems and set more alarm relays. -----Original Message----- From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Monday, August 07, 2023 5:01 PM To: af@af.afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Robot solar panel cleaners Crappola. Wrong link. No idea how that got in there. https://electrek.co/2023/08/04/robot-cleans-solar-panels-without-water/ bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 8/7/2023 12:54 PM, Chuck McCown via AF wrote: > Que? > > From: Bill Prince > Sent: Monday, August 7, 2023 12:33 PM > To: AFMUG > Subject: [AFMUG] Robot solar panel cleaners > > These are designed for dust, but maybe they might work for light snow > too? > > https://electrek.co/2023/08/04/robot-cleans-solar-panels-without-water > / > -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
