A photovoltaic panel that cleans itself and that to do so uses the same technology as the rovers that walk on Mars. The suggestion comes from NASA
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himThe places most affected by the Sun, you know, they are also the most dusty. Just think of some areas of India, the Middle East, the Australian hinterland, or, without leaving our country, regions such as Sicily and Puglia.
On the other hand, it is in these areas that i solar panels they yield more, both for the number of hours of irradiation to which they are subjected (quantity) and for the intensity of the irradiation itself (quality). So how to get rid of the inconvenience of dust, which lowers the performance of a photovoltaic system beyond 40%?
The answer comes from none other than from NASA And his name is "self-cleaning" solar panel. Yes, because if here on earth it is enough to resort to the classic window cleaner and a splash of detergent, up there, in space, there is no brush to hold. And indeed, during the Rover missions to Mars, this technology has already been used successfully. To reveal it, a few years later, is the prof. Malay Mazumder,Boston University, during the 240th meeting of the American Chemical Societies (ACS), which took place last month.
Even on common panels, Mazumder argues, the same can be used Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) of the Rover missions: a "film" that, beyond a certain accumulation of dust, is crossed by a low-intensity electrical impulse for about two minutes, "shaking" off about the 90% powder. It is certainly not a habit, considering the shortage of water that afflicts many desert areas. Additionally, to avoid otherwise expensive and difficult manual cleaning, EDS could even be crucial in projects like the Desertec.
The only drawback, of which nothing is known yet, is the price ... How much will a technology designed for rovers launched on Mars cost? Apparently not much, given that, within a year, the EDS will be on the market. Mazumder's word.
Roberto Zambon
