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Solar Monitoring
Solar Monitoring
Solar panels are widely used but they lose efficiency as they collect dust and air pollutants over time. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the efficiency of the panels to ensure that solar power remains as a reliable and stable energy source.
Data Collection
Data Collection
To test how different types and amount of dust affect the voltage output of solar panels, I designed two experiments to collect data that I could analyze. The first experiment tests the effect of different dust types and ratios on solar panel efficiency. The second experiment compares the voltage output under light and heavy dust coverage.
In the first experiment, pure flour, sand–flour mixture, and pure sand were each tested against a control panel with no dust. In the second experiment, three identical solar panels were arranged with different amounts of flour used to simulate dust accumulation. One panel served as the control with no dust applied, while the other two panels had increasing amounts of dust coverage.
Results & Analysis
Results & Analysis
The results show that fine particles form a denser, more uniform coverage that effectively blocks sunlight, whereas coarse particles leave gaps between grains, allowing light to reach the panel surface. The relationship of flour quantity and efficiency loss appears non-linear, with efficiency losses accelerating at higher dust loads. Weather conditions also significantly modulate dust impact.
Dust Type Comparison: Pure flour caused the most significant efficiency loss, reducing output to 77.2% of control, while pure sand showed almost no effect with 99.6% efficiency.
Weather Condition Affects: Under sunny conditions, light dust maintained 98.5% efficiency while heavy dust showed 59.9%. Heavy dust showed significant losses in both conditions.
Sunny Day Voltage Output
Cloudy Day Voltage Output
Comparison between heavy dust in sunny day and cloudy day: Voltage output of solar panel in sunny day is significantly higher than the voltage output in cloudy day.
Overall reading across all experiment dates: Voltage output of heavy dust panels fluctuates frequently, whereas the light dust and control solar panels has more stable outputs.
Monitoring App
Monitoring App
This monitoring app I created automatically collects and records data of linked solar panels. When the solar panels are plugged into the voltage sensors, the data collected will be transferred directly to the app, which creates a trend graph that shows the past voltage outputs.
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