Smart Solar Panels project, the design outline

The Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Panels are one of the key technologies for the generation of electric energy in space environment. This paper focuses on the improvement of standard PV Solar Panels that can be achieved by maximizing their efficiency. The Smart Solar Panels (SSPs) improve two aspects of the baseline technology: the capability to keep the solar panels surface orthogonal to the direction of the sunlight and, also, cleaned from the deposition of dust and other contaminants that can absorb a quota of the incoming solar irradiance. The present paper reports the preliminary design of the configuration of SSPs aimed to be implemented specifically, but not exclusively, for space applications. The SSPs shall be provided with robotic functionalities to move the panels according to the relative movement of the Sun and to remove the contaminants deposited on the surface. The SSPs are particularly suitable to support Solar System exploration, in fact, they can implement fixed or mobile installations of power plants in an efficient way. Furthermore, this new concept is advantageous also due to the cost-saving derived from the reduction of the overall mass to be launched in space and it can be transferred, as technology, from space to terrestrial applications. In fact, terrestrial sites with dry and dusty climate conditions, often located in desert or mountain areas, can benefit from this technology. The concept of the SSPs was submitted to the "call for ideas" for the ESA European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) in 2020.