Abstract
The present work aims at the characterization of the dust particles in South India through an image analysis of glass samples inclined at a tilt of 0° and 13° for four different exposure periods (approximately 30 to 40 days/exposure period). It aims as well at the study of the different factors influencing the accuracy of the image analysis of dust particles. The analysis of the shape factor reveals that the dust particles on tilted surface (13°) have regular shapes, and irregular shapes are more observed in horizontal surfaces. The size analysis of the dust particles with magnification of 20 × has revealed that the size distribution is in the range of 0–4 µm but more concentrated in the range of 0–1 µm. However, with 10 × magnification, larger particles are more detected. Furthermore, average results from three sample images seem to be more precise and representative than results from two images. The fractional coverage area of the dust particles on the sample has been calculated and compared with the transmittance losses. These two variables are found to be proportional with an R2 of 53%. Nevertheless, the comparison showed again that three images give better results with an R2 of 75% against 11% for two images. The results obtained in this study are very useful for the development of high precision soiling sensors that are based on image analysis and outdoor soiling microscopes, which are the main components for an efficient and economic cleaning of solar PV modules.
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Acknowledgements
The first author is thanking Srinivasa Sankarkumar, Pavan Nalajam, Thiyagarajan K, and Venkateswari R Radha from VIT Vellore for their valuable help.
Funding
This work is supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in the framework of the Research Training Fellowship-Developing Countries Scientist (RTFDCS) 2019–2020. It is also supported as well by the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) in the framework of the Research Excellence Scholarship Program, by the Moroccan Institute of Research in Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN) in the framework of SOLEIL Inno-PV Project, and by Moroccan Ministry for High Education and Research in the framework of Priority Research Project PPR1 No. 14/2016.
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Bouchra Laarabi: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft. Rajasekar Natarajan: conceptualization, methodology, resources, funding acquisition, review & editing, supervision, and validation. Nikhil Pattath Gopi: conceptualization and review & editing. Abdelfettah Barhdadi: conceptualization, methodology, resources, funding acquisition, review & editing, supervision, and validation.
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Laarabi, B., Rajasekar, N., Gopi, N.P. et al. Characterization of dust particles in South India and investigation on soiling image analysis for photovoltaic application. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 81635–81646 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22630-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22630-8