Design, Development, and Evaluation of Electrodynamic Screens for Self-Cleaning Solar Panels and Concentrating Mirrors

In this study, we report on design, construction, and evaluation of self-cleaning electrodynamic screen (EDS) films and their production via by gravure offset printing as a transition from laboratory-scale to roll-to-roll printing process. Both transparent and reflecting EDS films are fabricated for their applications to self-cleaning solar panels and concentrating mirrors, respectively. Experimental data are presented on the evaluation of the EDS films under simulated solar field environments demonstrating output power restoration of solar panels and specular reflectivity restoration for concentrating mirrors with low energy consumption without water. Electrode materials, geometry, optical modeling, and pulsed-voltage operation of the EDS film and scale-up studies are discussed.