Award Date
12-1-2014
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Computer Science
Department
Computer Science
First Committee Member
Evangelos A. Yfantis
Second Committee Member
John T. Minor
Third Committee Member
Jan B. Pedersen
Fourth Committee Member
Robert F. Boehm
Number of Pages
109
Abstract
The electric energy generated by solar panels declines due to dust particulates, bird deposits, water spots, and other contaminants that inhibit sunlight absorption and promote light scattering. As part of our research, we use cameras to capture images of solar panels, and analyze the images to detect the amount of scattered light. The more scattered light there is, the less light there is to penetrate the solar panel glass and reach the part of the panel that converts incident light to electric energy; therefore, less energy is generated. In this paper, we discuss the classification algorithm we developed to classify panels as clean or dirty. Dirty panels suffer from loss of electric energy generation and they need cleaning in order to restore their performance.
Keywords
Algorithms; Light – Scattering; Solar cells – Cleaning; Solar cells – Performance; Solar power plants
Disciplines
Computer Sciences | Oil, Gas, and Energy | Theory and Algorithms
File Format
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Ho, Suzanna, "Spectral Decomposition of the Scattered Light due to Deposits on the Solar Panel Surface, and Cross Correlated to Power Loss" (2014). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2270.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/7048589
Rights
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