CFD–DEM Simulation of Dust Deposition on Solar Panels for Desert Railways

Abstract

With the greening of the railway energy supply chain, large-scale photovoltaic power stations will be the best choice to integrate with the railways. Understanding the deposition mechanisms and rules of dust grains on photovoltaic panels is of great guiding significance for the operation of photovoltaic (PV) power stations. In this paper, based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combined with the discrete element method (DEM), the dynamic dust deposition process on solar panels was simulated, and the flow field around solar panels and the movement of dust particles in the wind were calculated. The simulation results of clay particles (d = 10 mm) and fine sand particles (d = 100 mm) under different wind speeds showed that the clay particles could follow the air flow properly, and their deposition rate was only 4.6%, while the deposition rate of the fine sand particles was up to 32%, which was determined by the inflow wind speed and cohesion parameters. An image of the non-uniform distribution of particles on the panels was given in this paper for the first time. This will provide a basis for a more accurate assessment of the impact of dust accumulation on PV output in real-world environments. These results provide a critical reference for railway photovoltaic power supply development in desertification areas.

The Effect of Dust Deposition on the Performance of Photovoltaic Panels

“…Depositing a quantity of 100 g/m 2 of gypsum, cement, and sand on the surface of the photovoltaic panels determined 9%, 14%, and 12% reductions in the performance of the photovoltaic panels, respectively [25]. The large accumulation of dust on photovoltaic panels occurs in desert areas [30], the dust containing quartz and smectite, carbonates, gypsum, feldspar, illite, kaolinite, and iron oxides [25].…”

“…The influence of dust on the efficiency of photovoltaic modules depends on the size, weight, shape, and components of the dust [30,[66][67][68][69][70]. It was found in Malaysia that acidic dust can cause erosion of the panel surface.…”

“…Periodic cleaning of the panels is recommended for good efficiency [27]. In Figure 11a,b, based on the analysis of research carried out in the period 2015-2022 [15,30,34,, we graphically represented the reduction in the efficiency of the panels as a result of the deposition of dust on the photovoltaic systems. The daily loss of panel power is between 0.05% in Oman and 1.15% in Bangladesh (Figure 11a) and the monthly decrease in panel efficiency (Figure 11b) is high, reaching 80%.…”

Solar Photovoltaic Energy as a Promising Enhanced Share of Clean Energy Sources in the Future—A Comprehensive Review

“…The interactions between dust and a solar panel were simulated using the soft sphere model and the CFD-EDM technique in the work by [60]. The simulation results for dust deposition showed that most of the dust particles avoided the solar panel with the airflow and that only a small percentage of dust particles could deposit on the solar panel's surface.…”

“…Hence, the deposition rate was 4.6%. Fine sand deposition, on the other hand, occurred at a much greater rate-up to 32% [60]. Fan et al (2021) [61] created the DC-PCE, indicating photoelectric conversion efficiency and dust concentration, after researching the effects of dust deposition on photovoltaic (PV) panels.…”