Performance of solar roof top panels with disparate particulate accumulation: Exergy analysis on an indoor lab study

Abstract

Deployment of solar photovoltaic panels are significantly rising to tackle adverse effects of climate change however, factors affecting output need to be categorized in addition to latitude angle and space. It is important to consider the atmospheric impact which can drastically change output power of solar panels. This study covers dust accumulation of soil, sand and ash at variable weights to foresee its effects on panel power output. Mixtures of these particles at multiple constituents were also analyzed. Experimental results indicated that clean panel gives maximum power output of 21.37W and exergy efficiency of 7.96% whereas ash accumulation showed worst results of 2.88W power output and 1.07% exergy efficiency at 700W/m2 and 50g dust accumulation. Other parameters like energy destruction, exergy losses and sustainability index were also analyzed. Trends have been illustrated in graphs along with the change in solar intensity and dust accumulations.