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Title: Indoor Soil Deposition Chamber: Evaluating Effectiveness of Antisoiling Coatings

Abstract

An indoor soil deposition method has been developed to simulate natural soil deposition on glass coupons or one-cell and multicell photovoltaic (PV) modules. This method uses variable ambient humidity, coupon/module temperature, and dust composition within a single custom-made chamber to create a natural and uniform soil deposition layer. Antisoiling (AS) coatings from two different manufacturers were applied on two one-cell monocrystalline silicon modules. Three layers of Arizona road dust have been deposited on the one-cell modules with AS coatings and an uncoated one-cell reference module at varied humidity levels. The soiled modules were exposed to an open-circuit subsonic wind tunnel at varying speeds and the effectiveness of AS coatings have been quantified using the transmittance gain. Transmittance loss resulting from the AS coating has been measured and compared with the transmittance of the uncoated reference module using a reflectance spectrophotometer. Reflectance measurements have also been taken to compare the transmittance loss of Arizona road dust and soil collected from PV modules' superstrates. The soiled one-cell modules were then exposed to rain from a rain simulator. The transmittance gain due to rain exposure is quantified using a rain gain and rain coefficient. These tests cumulatively may be used to help developmore » a test standard for evaluating the effectiveness of AS coatings.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States). Photovoltaic Reliability Lab.
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Contributing Org.:
SunShot National Laboratory Multiyear Partnership
OSTI Identifier:
1485572
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-72920
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; antisoiling coating; rain coefficient; rain gain; transmittance; soiling loss; wind coefficient; wind gain

Citation Formats

Ravi, Praveen, Muller, Mathew, Simpson, Lin J., Choudhary, Darshan, Mantha, Shanmukha, Subramanian, Sai, Virkar, Shalaim, Curtis, Telia, and Tamizhmani, Govindasamy. Indoor Soil Deposition Chamber: Evaluating Effectiveness of Antisoiling Coatings. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877021.
Ravi, Praveen, Muller, Mathew, Simpson, Lin J., Choudhary, Darshan, Mantha, Shanmukha, Subramanian, Sai, Virkar, Shalaim, Curtis, Telia, & Tamizhmani, Govindasamy. Indoor Soil Deposition Chamber: Evaluating Effectiveness of Antisoiling Coatings. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877021
Ravi, Praveen, Muller, Mathew, Simpson, Lin J., Choudhary, Darshan, Mantha, Shanmukha, Subramanian, Sai, Virkar, Shalaim, Curtis, Telia, and Tamizhmani, Govindasamy. Fri . "Indoor Soil Deposition Chamber: Evaluating Effectiveness of Antisoiling Coatings". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877021. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1485572.
@article{osti_1485572,
title = {Indoor Soil Deposition Chamber: Evaluating Effectiveness of Antisoiling Coatings},
author = {Ravi, Praveen and Muller, Mathew and Simpson, Lin J. and Choudhary, Darshan and Mantha, Shanmukha and Subramanian, Sai and Virkar, Shalaim and Curtis, Telia and Tamizhmani, Govindasamy},
abstractNote = {An indoor soil deposition method has been developed to simulate natural soil deposition on glass coupons or one-cell and multicell photovoltaic (PV) modules. This method uses variable ambient humidity, coupon/module temperature, and dust composition within a single custom-made chamber to create a natural and uniform soil deposition layer. Antisoiling (AS) coatings from two different manufacturers were applied on two one-cell monocrystalline silicon modules. Three layers of Arizona road dust have been deposited on the one-cell modules with AS coatings and an uncoated one-cell reference module at varied humidity levels. The soiled modules were exposed to an open-circuit subsonic wind tunnel at varying speeds and the effectiveness of AS coatings have been quantified using the transmittance gain. Transmittance loss resulting from the AS coating has been measured and compared with the transmittance of the uncoated reference module using a reflectance spectrophotometer. Reflectance measurements have also been taken to compare the transmittance loss of Arizona road dust and soil collected from PV modules' superstrates. The soiled one-cell modules were then exposed to rain from a rain simulator. The transmittance gain due to rain exposure is quantified using a rain gain and rain coefficient. These tests cumulatively may be used to help develop a test standard for evaluating the effectiveness of AS coatings.},
doi = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877021},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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