Designing and Controlling Power Management Module for Electro-Dynamic Screens

Abstract

Electro-Dynamic screens (EDS) have been proven to be an efficient method for dust removal from a variety of surfaces including photovoltaics (PV). EDS consists of electrodes that are embedded inside a dielectric material, which is energized by a three-phase high-voltage source. This technology is essential for deploying PV panels in distant and dusty atmospheres like the desert and the surface of the Moon or Mars. When dust accumulate on a PV panel, the amount of light reaching the solar cells decreases, which reduces the total output power. A con of the EDS technology is that it needs high-voltage source to operate, but the EDS can be made self-sustainable by feeding the EDS directly from the PV panel itself. This paper presents the design of an autonomous power management system for the EDS from a 12V DC input to an output of a 1.2kV 3-phase square wave.