Imagine giant fields filled with solar panels, The best spots to put such panels are obviously sunny, with little rain. But such places often come with lots of dust. And the panels have to stay dust-free: just a seventh of an ounce of dust per square yard of panel can decrease solar power conversion by 40 percent. And panels in Arizona might get covered with four times that much dust each month.
Cleaning the panelsuses precious water. So researchers are turning to dust-cleaning technology developed for one of the driest, dustiest locations possible: Mars. The work was reported at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
An transparent material is deposited on glass or a plastic sheet that covers the panel. Sensors monitor the dust levels. Once the dust reaches a specified level, the system reacts and produces a charge, with electricity generated by the panel.
The charge creates a wave over the material’s surface that physically lifts the dust andthe edges. The system gets about 90 percent of the dust in a couple of minutes. So the panels can go back to soaking up rays.
photovoltaic soaking up rays conventionally electrically-sensitive tosses it over
設想，一個巨大的場地上全是光電太陽能板在吸收光能。安放太陽能板的最佳地點當然要是陽光充沛，雨水少。不過這種地方一般都會有很多灰塵。偏偏太陽能板需要一個無塵的環境：每平方碼只要有七分之一盎司的塵土就會降低太陽能板40%的`轉換效率。而亞利桑那州的太陽能板每個月被覆蓋的塵土達到其4倍。 常規太陽能板的清潔是使用水。
因此研究人員將目標轉向在最乾燥，揚塵最多的地方--火星開發除塵技術。該項工作已在美國化學學會的全國會議上報告。 把一種塗有對電很敏感的透明材料的玻璃或塑膠薄片覆蓋在太陽能板上。用感測器檢測粉塵量。當粉塵達到一定量，系統將發生反應併產生一個電荷，太陽能板產生電流。 這個電荷在材料表面產生一個波動，這個波動會將灰塵彈起並甩至邊緣。此係統可在幾分鐘之內甩掉90%的粉塵，這樣太陽能板可以繼續吸收太陽能。
