Design and Construction of Photovoltaic Preventive Maintenance Robotic for Roof-Top PLTS Installation

The decrease in irradiance level can be caused by dust and animal droppings adhering to the surface of the solar panel module. If the solar panel module is not cleaned regularly, environmental dust will accumulate on the surface of the solar panel module. Because of this dust, solar panels cannot work optimally. Solar panels will work optimally at a temperature of 25°C. The greater the temperature of the solar panel will have an impact on the power generated by the solar panel. Based on some of the existing reviews, in this Final Project a PLC-based automatic cleaning tool is designed with a cleaning method using pressurized water spray to reduce the temperature of solar panels and clean adhering dirt. The system that was initiated is to use 2 control modes using a PLC to be able to operate the system and use water as a cleaner. The highest power of the motor in this system is 4.44 Watt. With a speed of 30 RPM, the cleaning kit in 1x cleaning loop takes 2.24 minutes. The flow rate used is 14.33 m/s and the pressure is 46 PSI. With this flow rate, this technology is able to clean dust for 2.24 minutes or 1x loop, clean sawdust for 2.24 minutes or 1x loop, clean animal waste (rats) for 4.48 minutes or 2x loops and clean oil /oil for 8.96 minutes or 4x loops. The results of the visual test using the quantitative method showed that 53.6% of the assessors chose the cleaning result, which was very clean. And as many as 46.4% of assessors chose the cleaning result which was quite clean. Nobody chooses unclean. Thus, this cleaning technology is effective in cleaning dust and dirt attached to solar panels. The results of the power output test showed that solar panels using cleaning technology (array 1) increased the output power. The temperature of the array 1 solar panel is also lower than that of the array 2 solar panel.