Self cleaning solar panels

There must be a good reason why the engineers at JPL haven't thought about putting some kind of solar wipers or brushes on the rovers that would swing by the surface of the panels and clean them free of mars dust. I realize that moving parts increase the likelihood of a malfunction, but wipers would not require a complicated construction. This simple device would be able to increase the rover's lifetime by many years. The wipers would be a very straightforward solution to the biggest threat the rover faces, which is running out of power. I just seem to miss the obvious point of why this hasn't been thought of or implemented.

Regards,

Eugene Beygin
Toronto, Canada

Rather than brush them clean I favour a rotation mechanism as used on satellites not only can you tip most of the dust off but also angle the panel to get the best aspect to the sun rather than running for the hills in winter. It has to be said the weight of such mechanism would mean cutting something else out of the mission.

I think that the original mission was expected to last only 90 SOLS, may be part of the reason for not including any housekeeping equipment of this type. They have tried inverting the instruments and shaking and tapping things to tip the dust off, but it is very fine and clingy. I'd like to see some thought go into this, I myself don't like wipers, it wold take several strokes to be effective, just like using a broom on Earth. A compressed air blower, one motion across and then back to home position, while releasing a stream of compressed Martian air, would clean things more efectively with less damage from scratching. There might be an even better way, there usually is. Solar Panels in many places these days are being mounted vertically instead of at the optimum angle, disadvantage is about a ten % reduction in power produced, advantage, nobody has to come and clean them when the output drops to near zero due to dust, because dust no longer accumulates. Change the solution, change the problem.

KPM, hi, you mention this in regard to satellites,
"I favour a rotation mechanism as used on satellites not only can you tip most of the dust off",
excuse if I'm a bit slow, just having my coffee now, how does this work in orbit on satellites?

Hi vk3ukf,

The panels on most orbiters can angle toward the sun I did not mean for the purpose of shaking dust off them but only the same technique on an MER for a dual purpose role. Yes it was always a 90 day mission with dust the terminal effect but it is now the most succesful robot mission on another world ever and will be hard to beat.

And no compressed Martian air won't work, this dust is dank and magnetic.

Payload is the restriction.

Hi KPM, ta for that,
weel the dust problem does sound a bit sticky, doesn't it. I must ask about why the compressed air won't work, enough pressure will overcome weak magnetism, have you seen some experiments regards this?
What about an electromagnet, have it swwep over the panels, then move off to the side and turn the power off, and give it a shake.
The very fine nature of the dust will probably contaminate any cleaner, requiring the cleaner to need cleaning. The dust blower was a method that avoided that happening. What about a brush roller that spins, if you spun the roller on a right angle edge, it might clean the bristles.
I can see a NASA funded student research grant here, how to clean solar panels while offworld.

Had another idea, a peristaltic pump might be a lot less bulk than a standard piston type to compress the air. Less parts as well.
What about those removable clear sheets that motorbike racers use, when their faceplate gets covered in muck, they just peel off the gladwrap, and bingo, spotless again.

The problem isn't necessarily only the dust. The batteries themselves will eventually no longer hold a charge - rendering any efforts to clean the array(s) nothing more than a waste of time / payload.

In order to get serious work done on the surface of the planet, you're going to need a nuclear powered vehicle. Although it seems like Oppy and Spirit have travelled a great distance, imagine just how little of the surface we've actually seen.

Payload is always a major factor hence I think the weight of a compressor and its other mechanisms would be expensive. A nuclear battery is heavy too but is the only way to go, MSL will carry one and travel further and faster.

>And no compressed Martian air won't work, this dust is dank and magnetic

What of all the wind based "cleaning incidents"

The static and surface effect qualities of that fine Martian dust could be (and maybe is) dealt with by manipulating the charge of the panels.

I thinks angled and rotating panels would have helped increase power and were skipped in favor of science on a potentialy very short mission, but it is now a non issue since rover missions are going nuclear

I would rather advice a vibrating mechanism in the panels which will clean the dust. Most of the DSLR camera use this mechanism which will clean even a microscopic dust. And I disagree the fact that there is only 10% power loss. Read the Nasa news for more info.

look what i found here

Solar panels' efficiency is constantly improving, thanks to immense technology development efforts that achieve improvement increments of a few percent. Regrettably, mediocre dirt and dust hamper sunlight transmission to the solar cells, and consequently reduce their throughput substantially. Cleaning the panels is a costly operation and therefore cannot be a practical solution. TitanShield SolarCoat is an optimal solution to the problem! This innovative photocatalyst material is sprayed on the surface of the solar panel and will avoid accumulation of dirt. Not only that, due to its special optical characteristics, TitanShield SolarCoat will diminish the loss of solar radiation through the glass of the panel by 5% (by reducing glare and thus reflection from the panel, as well as other losses). TitanShield SolarCoat is inherently a UV radiation mask. This helps to prolong the useful life of the DSSC cells that are susceptible to UV radiation. Once coated, the TitanShield SolarCoat will last and function for the entire lifetime of the solar panel. We offer here a holistic environmentally friendly solution that eliminates the use of water and detergents for cleaning the panels, while saving considerable expenses.

http://www.titanshield.co.il/en/p_sollar_1.php

hello,

take a look at this website, maybe that can help you

http://www.todae.com.au/Products/solarpanels/

Hi I am the Martian wind and have a proven track record in kicking up a storm and creating dust devils, oh yes nearly forgot I clean Solar Panels as well.

See you next Autumn.

For more information go to www.marsrover.com

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