Ultra-efficient and ultra-rapid solar cell de-icing and de-snowing

Siavash Khodakarami; Longnan Li; Nenad Miljkovic

doi:10.1117/12.2598078

5 August 2021 Ultra-efficient and ultra-rapid solar cell de-icing and de-snowing

Siavash Khodakarami, Longnan Li, Nenad Miljkovic

Proceedings Volume 11824, New Concepts in Solar and Thermal Radiation Conversion IV; 118240C (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2598078
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2021, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Frost formation and snow coverage is troublesome for a wide range of applications including air conditioning, refrigeration, wind turbines, and photovoltaic solar cells. In solar cell applications, snow coverage in winter times and dust coverage lead to a huge power loss. To maintain energy efficiency and operational fidelity, snow, frost, and ice need to be removed in a highly efficient and rapid manner. Even the state-of-the-art de-snowing, defrosting, and de-icing methods suffer from high energy consumption (10 J cm^-2) and taking long times (> 1 min.). Here, we integrated a pulse electrothermal heating method with a transparent and self-cleaning nanoengineered coating capable of achieving ultraefficient and rapid (~ 1 s.) interfacial de-snowing, defrosting, and de-icing. Specifically, the transparency and selfcleaning properties of the coating are designed to remove both snow and dust from solar cells while minimizing the interference to light absorption. We experimentally demonstrate the defrosting performance of our multi-functional coating and show the enhanced efficiency in energy and time for ice and snow removal. This method is applicable to other applications such as heat exchangers, wind turbines, and power transmission lines.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Siavash Khodakarami, Longnan Li, and Nenad Miljkovic "Ultra-efficient and ultra-rapid solar cell de-icing and de-snowing", Proc. SPIE 11824, New Concepts in Solar and Thermal Radiation Conversion IV, 118240C (5 August 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2598078

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