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A Techno-Economic Review of Dust Accumulation and Cleaning Techniques for Solar Energy Harvesting Devices

  • Review Article--Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

Solar energy is a promising and sustainable natural resource that can be harnessed through solar harvesting devices such as photovoltaic (PV) cells and concentrating solar collectors. The efficiency of these systems can reach up to 23% and 70%, respectively. However, their performance is significantly affected by geographical and environmental factors, such as orientation, inclination angle, longitude, latitude, solar intensity, shade, wind, temperature, and dust accumulation. Among these factors, dust deposition is a major contributor to reduced efficiency, power production, and profitability of solar energy harvesting devices. Accumulated dust can decrease the efficiency of solar systems by more than 70% within a month, depending on their geographical location. The intensity and characteristics of dust, such as shape, size, meteorology, and type, vary worldwide and are determined by the system. Numerous studies have investigated the intensity of dust and various dust cleaning techniques with prospects and challenges to restore the performance of solar energy harvesting systems. This paper focuses on the intensity of dust around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It provides a detailed review of recent investigations into dust-cleaning techniques for solar energy harvesting systems for researchers, designers, and engineers in this field. Furthermore, it includes a techno-economic comparison of the techniques, which can aid in selecting the most suitable dust-cleaning technique for a particular geographic region based on technical and financial aspects.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), Interdisciplinary Research Center (IRC) for Renewable Energy and Power Systems, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) through Project# INRE2301, and the funding support provided by the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A. CARE).

Funding

Funding was provided by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Grant Number INRE2301), King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (Grant Number KACO2512).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, KFUPM, 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad Bilal Ahmadullah, Abdullah Al-Sharafi, Hussain Al-Qahtani, Abba Abdulhamid Abubakar & Bekir Sami Yilbas

  2. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy and Power Systems (IRC-REPS), Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Al-Sharafi, Ghassan Hassan, Hussain Al-Qahtani & Bekir Sami Yilbas

  3. Researcher at K.A.CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center at Dhahran, 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Al-Sharafi, Ghassan Hassan & Bekir Sami Yilbas

  4. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials (IRC-AM), Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Abba Abdulhamid Abubakar

  5. Turkish Japanese University of Science and Technology, Istanbul, Turkey

    Bekir Sami Yilbas

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  1. Ahmad Bilal Ahmadullah
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Correspondence to Abdullah Al-Sharafi.

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Ahmadullah, A.B., Al-Sharafi, A., Hassan, G. et al. A Techno-Economic Review of Dust Accumulation and Cleaning Techniques for Solar Energy Harvesting Devices. Arab J Sci Eng 49, 1343–1365 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-023-08206-9

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