Volume 1 Issue 2 CLEAROSO: A Cleaning Robot for the Solar Panels Nikheel N.Deshmukh a , Devendra Chitale b , and Raghavendra C. Kamath * c a Bilfinger UK Limited, Wilson House, Kelburn Court, Daten Park, Birchwood, Warrington WA3 6UT b DC Automation, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411038 mark Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India 576104 Abstract Non-renewable power sources being sustainable have a major impact on controlling global warming. Solar energy is one of the prominent non-renewable energy sources that has been increasingly utilized in recent years to generate solar power using solar panels. The accumulation of dust (also known as soiling) on the surface of solar panels reduces the quantity of sunlight reaching the solar cells beneath, lowering the efficiency of the solar panel. To fully utilize their specified capacity, they must be cleaned regularly, often with water. Cleaning solar panels, especially when large in numbers, consumes much time. The cleaning of solar panels has become complex, complicated, and ultimately costly due to the growing water shortage problem in most parts of the world. The current study also suggests the development of a solar panel cleaning robot to address the issues connected with the traditional technique of solar panel cleaning. In the present work, an appropriate methodology was developed to balance the robot on the solar panel, having the ability to clean the panels with no wastage of water and no damage to the panels. Since the proposed cleaning process is automated, cleaning time was significantly reduced, and the usage of water and the effort of the personnel was eliminated. Several cleaning trials were conducted using the robot, and the result indicated an increase in the overall efficiency of the solar panel cleaning process. Keywords: Photovoltaic Panel Cleaning; Sensors; Robotics; Water-Free Cleaning; Real-Time Systems 1 Introduction Solving today’s environmental issues necessitates long-term prospective initiatives for sustainable development, and renewable energy (RE) resources appear to be among the most efficient and effective alternatives in this respect [1]. Global and regional trends imply that renewable energy sources will soon meet most global energy demands [2]. In other words, RE is predicted to alleviate energy crises by playing a critical role in satisfying future power demands [3]. Solar and wind energy are the most promising and effective renewable energy sources, encouraging interest in expanding their use globally [4, 5]. Global solar energy output is predicted to grow faster than any other energy source until the middle of the century, particularly in locations with high levels of dust and/or anthropogenic particle pollution, such as major portions of India, China, and the Arabian Peninsula [6]. India’s RE potential is around 900 GW from diverse sources, with solar power contributing 83% and hence is the major contributor [7]. Photovoltaic (PV) energy production through PV panels is one of the most promising and mature renewable energy production technologies [8]. PV panels are composed of several cells linked together to create power at the correct voltage. Photovoltaic panels are essentially direct current (DC) devices. They are used in conjunction with an inverter to generate alternating current (AC) [9]. Photovoltaic cells or solar cells are diodes that convert sunlight directly into electricity and have a wide surface area exposed to the sun. * Corresponding author: cr.kamath@manipal.edu Received: 14 September 2022; Accepted: 17 December 2022; Published: 31 December 2022 © 2022 Journal of Computers, Mechanical and Management. This is an open access article and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. DOI: 10.57159/gadl.jcmm.1.2.23013. 9