Ideas for a solar panel cleaner |
Ideas for a solar panel cleaner |
May 22 2008, 05:55 PM
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#1
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Director of Galilean Photography Group: Members Posts: 896 Joined: 15-July 04 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 93 |
Just had an idea for a solar panel cleaner. Place a small, black tank on top of the deck. At the bottom of the tank is a one-way valve pointing into the tank. At the side of the tank is a pressure-relief valve tied to the dust removal tubes.
This removes the need for storing a gas for the cleaning, as well as any need for a pump. Ready...Set...Rip 'er apart! -------------------- Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks
-- "The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C Clarke Mother Nature is the final inspector of all quality. |
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May 27 2008, 02:54 AM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 21 Joined: 29-November 06 From: SESE/ASU Member No.: 1437 |
The real problem with Mars (and Moon) dust is that it is so very electrically charged. If you walked over to one of the rovers, and tried to brush the dust off, it would probably stick to your spacesuit glove. For example, look how dirty the Apollo astronauts got (e.g. Cernan below); all that dust was electrostatic cling. So, a simple solution would be to run a ground strip from the structure of the panels to the ground (which they may already do, I don't know). A more proactive solution would be to put a negative charge on the panels (or on a transparent, conductive coating on top). This, though, would probably strain both the power and fiscal budgets...
Simon |
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