Robots for Cleaning Photovoltaic Panels: State of the Art and Future Prospects

Abstract

The growing interest in use of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic energy systems, occurs due to the high cost of conventional energy sources and the environmental awareness linked to renewable sources. For photovoltaic panels efficient operation, it is necessary the system presents appropriate cleaning conditions to the dirt do not obstruct the solar radiation incidence. In this context, periodic cleaning of photovoltaic panels is an obvious necessity. This work aims to present a market survey and patent analysis on the use of robots to perform cleaning tasks on photovoltaic panels. For that, the Brazilian and international literature were consulted. As a result, it was noted the existence of different solutions for cleaning photovoltaic panels, all with positive and negative aspects in practical terms. With this study it was also possible to map the technology of robotics for cleaning photovoltaic panels.