ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A solar farm in Hungary is using a newly-developed cleaning robot, whose micro-shower and cleaning pad remove the contaminant particles from solar cells - maximising their efficiency.

The robot was developed as a joint project between Norway's independent research organisation SINTEF and Hungarian company ProDSP Technology. It works without using any chemicals.

In order to determine how much the contamination affects sunlight scientists are now focused on studying different types of dirt.

"The degree to which dust particles and contamination affect solar cells is very location-dependent," explained Birgit Ryningen, solar cell researcher. "We've seen some dust particles absorb light while others reflect it, and small particles reflect more light than larger ones, whereas some scale contamination is biological and acts as a kind of ‘sun factor'."

All types of dirt need to be removed for the solar cell to be able to work at its best. So the researchers say they have developed a cleaning system that deals with all known types of contamination in a fast, sensitive and environmentally friendly way.