ASET Technology Alberta Fall 2022 - 33

capstone
Pneumatic Solar Panel Duster
ACADEMIC INSTITUTION: RED DEER POLYTECHNIC
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DISCIPLINE: ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL
TEAM MEMBERS: KYLE VICTOR, CARSON WEST,
NATHANIEL CROMBIE
K
eeping solar panels free of light-obstructing
physical foreign agents (leaves, dust, dirt, etc.)
is a common need for large-scale photovoltaic
installations. Currently, such cleaning is accomplished
by either human intervention (hand cleaning,
vehicle-assisted sprayers) or emerging robotic means. Human
intervention is simple to implement but at the greatest
cost. Robotic sweepers have low operational costs but can
be overly complex, expensive to acquire and maintain, and
are significantly limited for implementation across a variety
of panel geometries and dynamics. This project centres on
the design of a pneumatic " air blast " cleaning system that involves
essentially no moving cleaning parts, requires little/
no routine maintenance, costs little to acquire, is simple to
install, can be applied independent of panel geometry or dynamics,
and is powered self-sufficiently via the very same
solar panels the system is deployed to clean. The design and
functional prototype offers the following features distinguishing
it from what is currently in the marketplace:
* requires no water supply for cleaning
* fully automated (requires no manual labour,
human guidance, labour costs)
* adaptable to any panel array geometry (non-linear),
any orientation (ground-based or rooftop angled),
any mount (static or 1-2 axis dynamic tracking)
* low cost to manufacture, simple to commission (common
low-cost components, requires little time to adapt/install,
simple programming for any non-programmer)
* minimal moving/wear components (maximizes
reliability while minimizing routine maintenance)
* capable of operation in virtually any climate or
operational schedule; and
* low power requirements (powered by a single solar panel).
The project plan also identified a key enhancement for the
next prototype build (missed due to course time limitations).
The enhancement involves additional programming
that would support intelligent on- demand activation when
cleaning is required, in addition to a pre-established schedule.
This would result in a more flexible and energy efficient
system. During sunlight hours, this improved system would
automatically detect when power produced for the solar panels
has dropped below a specific power delivery threshold
to automatically trigger our cleaning system to activate and
clean. During the night, the system would default to scheduled
cleaning. Once power has been restored to an acceptable
level, the system would then return back to a monitoring
state until once again called upon (either by event demand or
routine scheduling).
KYLE VICTOR: My name is Kyle Victor and I come from Stettler,
Alberta. I recently graduated from the mechanical engineering
technologist program in April 2022. In my free time I
enjoy snowboarding in the winter, traveling and hiking in the
summer, and drawing made-up comic book characters all
year round.
CARSON WEST: I was born and raised in Red Deer, and enjoy
a wide variety of outdoor activities and staying fit. Besides my
mechanical (MET) diploma from Red Deer Polytechnic, I also
have an instrumentation (IET) diploma from NAIT and a third
engineering technology diploma in electrical (EET) from RDP. I
also have the majority of business courses completed towards
a business diploma from RDP. I very much enjoy all areas of
technology and engineering. I look forward to an exciting career
start in any combination of these fields. In my spare time, I
also enjoy designing and building technical projects.
NATHANIEL CROMBIE: I am an electrical engineering technologist
with work experience as an electrician's apprentice,
in vegetation management, and as an auto mechanic shop
assistant. I currently reside in Lacombe, Alberta, where I am
working towards my electrician journeyman ticket. I enjoy
many hobbies; some of these are acrobatics, disc golf, fishkeeping,
and automobile restoration. My role in this project
was to work seamlessly with my teammates, design and assemble
the electrical system, program the microcontroller
to control the system, and test the electrical components to
make sure everything worked properly.
TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA | FALL 2022 | 33
ASET Technology Alberta Fall 2022

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