Scientists have developed a device to use wind and solar energy more efficiently and create self-cleaning solar panels.
Solar panels and wind turbines provide clean, renewable energy worldwide and reduce fossil fuel use.But both technologies are still evolving. Scientists at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology in Daegu, South Korea, have developed a device to use wind and solar energy more efficiently. This device has made solar panels self-cleaning thanks to a wind-powered electrodynamic screen.
Solar panels work by absorbing sunlight, so they must not contaminated with dust and dirt; otherwise light cannot get in. This requires regular cleaning and being expensive, difficult and even dangerous depending on where they installed. Solar panels are not installed in places that can be easily reached and wiped clean (with some exceptions). An electrodynamic screen can clean the solar panel without human assistance using high-voltage electric fields. However, the screen has to powered by an external source and this is where wind energy comes in.
The researchers powered the electrodynamic display and kept the solar panel 90% clean by utilizing a triboelectric nanogenerator to generate electricity from wind friction. The study’s leader, Professor Lee Ju-hyuck, said: “We used abundant wind energy to maintain panel cell efficiency. This is a big step forward to ensure that solar energy remains a cleaner solution in the future.”
Using one kind of clean energy to augment another kind of clean energy represents a particularly elegant solution to a problem and the kind of technological progress we can hope for and expect as solar and wind become more widespread.
Source: https://www.cioupdate.com.tr/manset/gunes-panelleri-4/
