Effects of wind barrier height and porosity on dust deposition and power generation efficiency of photovoltaic arrays

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) technology has seen widespread adoption in recent years as a clean and sustainable energy source. However, the deposition of dust particles on PV module surfaces can significantly reduce power generation efficiency. Wind barriers have proven effective in suppressing dust deposition, thereby improving the performance of PV panels. However, previous studies have been limited to two-dimensional conditions, focusing on dust deposition on individual PV panels, which fails to capture the airflow dynamics and array effects in real PV installations, and have largely overlooked the influence of wind barrier porosity on dust deposition. This study investigates the dust deposition process and characteristics of PV arrays influenced by wind barriers, considering variations in dust particle diameter, wind barrier height, and porosity. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach is employed, using the shear stress transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model to simulate the airflow around the wind barriers and PV panels, while the discrete phase model (DPM) is used to model the deposition of dust particles. Numerical simulations show good agreement with experimental results within an acceptable margin of error, validating the reliability of the methodology. The results indicate that dust deposition rates on PV arrays decreased with increasing wind barrier height, reaching maximum values of 8.62 %, 7.98 %, 7.54 %, 7.27 %, and 6.47 %. The optimal wind barrier height was 2.5 m. Porous wind barriers effectively eliminate vortices around the PV panels and significantly reduce the deposition rate of fine particles, with an optimal porosity of 50 %. For large particles with a diameter of 200 μm, dust deposition on PV surfaces can be reduced by up to 29.32 %, while for fine particles with a diameter of 1 μm, the reduction can reach 55.66 %. The first row of PV panels is most significantly affected by the presence of wind barriers, with reductions in large and fine particle deposition reaching up to 49.48 % and 67.04 %, respectively. Furthermore, after 100 days of exposure, the presence of wind barriers reduced the maximum power generation efficiency loss of the photovoltaic array from 38.25 % to 23.85 %. The maximum efficiency losses of the modules from the first to the third rows under optimal porosity were 64.34 %, 23.11 %, and 13.48 %, respectively, with the first row exhibiting the most significant loss. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing PV array design and dust mitigation strategies.