This study is a continuation of our previous work. In this experiment, transparent tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) fork electrodes with different width and spacing were coated on the glass substrates. The used dust particle size was smaller than 180 mesh. The effects of the electrode width, the electrode spacing, voltage, frequency, waveform, and the duty ratio on the dust removal efficiency were studied. The obtained optimum conditions of dust removal were as follows: voltage was 1500 V, frequency was 15 Hz, square wave, 10% duty ratio, the electrode width was 0.5 mm, electrodes spacing was 1.3 mm. Our previous experimental results show that the dust removal efficiency would be up to 95%. But in this experiment, under the optimum conditions, the dust removal efficiency could be up to 99%.
With the more and more explorations of the moon, Mars and other planets and the growing popularity of solar energy in the social production, dust removal technology on solar panels has attracted considerable attention and investigation. Among all kinds of known dust removal technologies, growing interest has been focused on elec- tric dust removal technology, because of its high efficiency, clean, no contact and no damage to solar panels, and other advantages. So it has become a hot spot of dust removal research area [
Electric dusting was put forward for the first time by Tatom et al. in 1967. Masuda et al. studied the movement of dust particles in fork electrode electric field. Schmidin and Melcher et al. explored a great diversity of application of electric dust removal with fork electrodes [
This study is a further exploration of our previous study [
Dust removal experiment device was shown in
Number | Factors | Result | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frequency/Hz | Voltage/V | Electrode Width/mm | Electrode Gap/mm | Dusting Efficiency | |
1 | 10 | 500 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 81.80% |
2 | 10 | 800 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 61.50% |
3 | 10 | 1100 | 1 | 1.3 | 85.90% |
4 | 10 | 1500 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 96.80% |
5 | 20 | 500 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 55% |
6 | 20 | 800 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 63% |
7 | 20 | 1100 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 87.60% |
8 | 20 | 1500 | 1 | 0.8 | 83% |
9 | 30 | 500 | 1 | 1.6 | 40% |
10 | 30 | 800 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 85.90% |
11 | 30 | 1100 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 67.30% |
12 | 30 | 1500 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 54.50% |
13 | 40 | 500 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 53.80% |
14 | 40 | 800 | 1 | 0.5 | 58.30% |
15 | 40 | 1100 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 88.30% |
16 | 40 | 1500 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 81.70% |
I1 | 0.8150 | 0.5765 | 0.7345 | 0.7055 | |
II2 | 0.7215 | 0.6718 | 0.6483 | 0.6640 | |
III3 | 0.6193 | 0.8228 | 0.6680 | 0.7713 | |
IV4 | 0.7053 | 0.7900 | 0.8103 | 0.7203 | |
R | 0.1957 | 0.2463 | 0.1620 | 0.1073 |
According to the results of the above orthogonal table and anti-breakdown scope of electrodes, the electrodes of the 4th, 5th, 9th and 15th groups were selected in the experiment, and the electrode width and spacing of which are as follows: 1.5 mm and 1.6 mm, 0.5 mm and 1.3 mm, 1 mm and 1.6 mm and 0.5 mm and 1.6 mm, respectively. The dust removal experiments were carried out under the different voltage and frequency, in order to find the optimal electrode width and spacing, frequency and voltage. The results were shown in Tables 2-5.
The experimental results show that low frequency is more advantageous to remove dust. The higher the voltage, the higher dust removal efficiency is. Considering the whole results, the 5th electrode is the best one. When electrode width is 0.5 mm, spacing is 1.3 mm, the voltage is 1500 V, and the frequency is 15 Hz, the largest dust removal efficiency can reach up to 99%.
The impact of waveform on dust removal efficiency has been examined as well. Square wave, sine wave, triangular wave and sawtooth wave were applied respectively to the 5th electrode (0.5 mm and 1.3 mm), under 1500 V voltage and 15 Hz frequency. The dust removal effects were shown in
In view of the square wave, the influence of duty ratio on dust removal efficiency was also analyzed. The chosen duty ratio of the square wave is 10%, 20%, 30%, 20% and 50% respectively, under the optimal conditions in dust removal experiment, and the result was shown in
Voltage (v) Efficiency (%) Frequency (Hz) | 800 | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1500 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 22 | 43.9 | 75.6 | 76.8 | 81.7 |
10 | 45.2 | 76.7 | 82.2 | 93.2 | 95.9 |
15 | 15.5 | 22.3 | 44.7 | 89.3 | 93.2 |
20 | 39.1 | 63.2 | 78.2 | 89.7 | 95.4 |
30 | 32.5 | 67.5 | 77.5 | 91.3 | 92.5 |
40 | 15.7 | 25.6 | 48.8 | 57 | 67.8 |
50 | 46.3 | 62.5 | 66.3 | 80 | 85 |
Voltage (v) Efficiency (%) Frequency (Hz) | 800 | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1500 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 49 | 72.1 | 91.3 | 94.2 | 95.2 |
10 | 38.9 | 77.9 | 89.5 | 94.7 | 97.9 |
15 | 30.5 | 59 | 87.6 | 97.1 | 99 |
20 | 45.9 | 73.8 | 91 | 95.1 | 95.9 |
30 | 43.8 | 75 | 88.5 | 93.8 | 97.9 |
40 | 39.1 | 66.3 | 80.4 | 88 | 91.3 |
50 | 33.3 | 54.1 | 55.9 | 57.7 | 59.5 |
Voltage (v) Efficiency (%) Frequency (Hz) | 800 | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1500 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 25.7 | 28.7 | 41.6 | 45.5 | 55.4 |
10 | 65.2 | 69.7 | 78.7 | 86.5 | 95.5 |
15 | 17 | 20.5 | 28.6 | 29.5 | 30.4 |
20 | 55 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 65 |
30 | 42.3 | 43.3 | 47.4 | 48.5 | 49.5 |
40 | 32.6 | 60.5 | 61.6 | 62.8 | 64 |
50 | 43.9 | 76.8 | 82.9 | 87.8 | 93.9 |
Voltage (v) Efficiency (%) Frequency (Hz) | 800 | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1500 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 27.5 | 56.9 | 74.5 | 86.3 | 90.2 |
10 | 64.1 | 80.6 | 88.3 | 89.3 | 90.3 |
15 | 27.2 | 44.6 | 66.3 | 83.7 | 87 |
20 | 50.6 | 65.2 | 69.7 | 70.8 | 71.9 |
30 | 56.6 | 68.4 | 69.7 | 75 | 92.1 |
40 | 32.7 | 40.9 | 65.5 | 68.2 | 69.1 |
50 | 30.6 | 34.7 | 64.3 | 83.7 | 84.7 |
A series of ITO transparent fork electrodes with different width and spacing were designed, through the orthogonal experiment we know that the key factors influencing the efficiency of dust removal are the voltage and frequency. The 4th (1.5 mm and 1.6 mm), 5th (0.5 mm and 1.3 mm), 9th (1 mm and 1.6 mm) and 15th (0.5 mm and 1.6 mm) electrodes were selected to carry on in-depth analysis of influence of the voltage and frequency on the dust removal efficiency. Furthermore, the influences of waveform and duty ratio on dust removal efficiency were analyzed as well, and the best conditions of dust removal are obtained, as follows: the voltage is 1500 V, at a frequency of 15 Hz, square wave, the duty ratio is 10%, the electrode width is 0.5 mm, and the electrode spacing is 1.3 mm. Under the optimal conditions, dust removal efficiency can be as high as 99%.