A method for estimating dirt on photovoltaic panel using TCS3200 color sensor module

Abstract

This paper presents the application of the TCS3200 color sensor module with Arduino ESP32 microcontroller to estimate the dirtiness of solar panels caused by dust. The surfaces of solar panels with different amounts of dust accumulation have different reflectance values. Therefore, this reflectance measurement instrument was designed using the TCS3200 color sensor module to measure the reflectivity in RGB values and convert it to gray scale values. The gray scale was then used to correlate with the amount of dust accumulated on the solar panels by experiments by simulating the dust situation on the solar panels at various levels ranging from 0 – 25 g/m² on a 50 W polycrystalline solar panels. The results showed that the gray scale value measured by the TCS3200 color sensor module correlated with the amount of dust on the solar panel. When tested by measuring the short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage of the tested solar panel. It was found that the value decreased with the amount of dust on the solar panel inversely related to the gray scale. The maximum power output from the solar panel is 43.56 W when the solar panel is clean and free of dust. When the dust accumulation on a solar panel reaches 5 g or more, it initiates a decline in the power output generated by the panel. The power output reached its minimum value at 38.23 W when the dust accumulation on the solar panel reached 25 g/m². The decrease in power is caused by the amount of sunlight reaching the solar panel is reduced because it is blocked by dust particles, causing the solar panel to lose its efficiency in receiving sunlight. The soil ratio of solar panels decreased inversely with the amount of dust. It was found that the soil ratio of the solar panels decreased inversely with the amount of dust. it can be inferred that the TCS3200 color sensor module is capable of measuring the difference in reflectivity caused by dust on the surface of the solar panel. This ability enables the module to estimate the level of dirtiness or dust accumulation on the solar panel surface. Therefore, the TCS3200 color sensor module can be used as a tool to assess the cleanliness of the solar panel surface based on its reflectivity readings.