Numerical investigation of dust pollution on a solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on an isolated building

Hao Lu, Lin Lu and Yuanhao Wang

Applied Energy, 2016, vol. 180, issue C, 27-36

Abstract: Dust deposition on a solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on the windward roof of an isolated building was investigated by CFD simulation. The SST k-ω turbulence model with UDF inlet profiles and the discrete particle model (DPM) were adopted to simulate the wind flow fields and the dust deposition behavior, respectively. The CFD wind flow velocity profiles around the building were in good agreement with experimental results reported in the literature. The effects of various dust particle sizes, differing quantities of released dust particles, and the force of gravity on the rates of dust deposition upon the PV panels were investigated in detail. It was found that the dust deposition rate first rose and then declined with the increase of dust particle size. The maximum deposition rate was about 0.28% for 10μm dust, and the minimum deposition rate was about 0.13% for 50μm dust. Gravity also had a significant effect on the rate of dust deposition for large-particle dust (dp>5μm), and the rate could reach 75% for 50μm dust. However, the effect of gravity on dust deposition was less than 5% for small-particle dust (dp<5μm). The effect of releasing differing quantities of dust particles on the dust deposition rate was less than 8%. Moreover, the mechanisms by which dust was deposited on the PV roof were analyzed and discussed. Finally, a simple empirical model was developed to estimate the PV efficiency reduction ratios in relation to exposure time, as based on this study’s CFD results and the experimental data reported in the literature.

Keywords: Dust pollution; PV system; Isolated building; Numerical simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916309722
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:180:y:2016:i:c:p:27-36

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.07.030

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().