Photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of photovoltaic solar panel cleaning equipment, in particular to a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot which comprises a parking frame erected on the surface of a photovoltaic solar panel and a cleaning robot body located on the parking frame. The cleaning robot is provided with walking devices driving the whole cleaning robot to move along an upper cross rod and a lower cross rod of the parking frame and a cleaning device used for cleaning the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and the walking devices are symmetrically arranged on the cross rods located at the upper end and the lower end of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel. The cleaning device comprises a rolling brush assembly used for removing dust on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, a fixed-point cleaning assembly used for removing stains on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and a snow removing assembly used for removing accumulated snow on the photovoltaic solar panel. Different cleaning strategies can be selected according to different cleaning environments such as floating dust and accumulated snow on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and automatic and efficient cleaning of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel is achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of photovoltaic solar panel cleaning equipment, and in particular to a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot. Background Art

[0002] As non-renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly depleted, the photovoltaic industry has been vigorously promoted as a major green energy source. However, photovoltaic solar panels need to be exposed to the air during use, and their surfaces are prone to accumulate a certain amount of dirt and dust, which will not only reduce the light transmittance of the photovoltaic solar panels over a long period of time, but also cause local overheating and cause hot spot effects, damage photovoltaic solar panels, and even corrode photovoltaic solar panels, thereby significantly reducing the power generation of photovoltaic solar panels.

[0003] For cleaning the surface of photovoltaic solar panels, traditional cleaning methods usually require manual operation, which not only fails to clean in time, has low efficiency and high cost. Summary of the invention

[0004] Based on the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot for automatically cleaning dirt and dust on the surface of a photovoltaic solar panel.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is: a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot, comprising a parking rack mounted on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel and a cleaning robot located on the parking rack, the cleaning robot is provided with a walking device for driving the entire cleaning robot to move along two upper and lower cross bars of the parking rack and a cleaning device for cleaning the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, the walking device adopts the same structure and is symmetrically arranged on the cross bars at the upper and lower ends of the photovoltaic solar panel surface;

[0006] The cleaning device includes a rolling brush assembly for removing dust from the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, a fixed-point cleaning assembly for removing stains from the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and a snow removal assembly for cleaning snow accumulated on the photovoltaic solar panel;

[0007] Preferably, the walking device includes a support platform and a plurality of driving wheels rotatably arranged on the support platform and driven by a first servo motor, and a supporting wheel rotatably arranged at the bottom of the support platform, wherein the axis of the driving wheel is arranged parallel to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and the axis of the supporting wheel is perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and a connecting rod is arranged between the two walking devices, and both ends of the connecting rod are respectively fixed on the corresponding support platform;

[0008] Furthermore, the cross section of the support platform is L-shaped;

[0009] Preferably, the roller brush assembly comprises a main shaft and a brush arranged on the main shaft, and both ends of the main shaft are rotatably fixed on walking devices in corresponding directions, and one of the walking devices is provided with a second servo motor for driving the main shaft to rotate;

[0010] Preferably, the fixed-point cleaning assembly includes a synchronous belt linear slide and a linear slide matched with the synchronous belt linear slide, and a slide motor for driving the synchronous belt linear slide, wherein both ends of the synchronous belt linear slide are fixed on a walking device in a corresponding direction, and a cleaning component perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel is provided on the linear slide;

[0011] Further, the cleaning component includes a mounting plate fixedly connected to the linear slide on one side, an electric push rod fixedly connected to the other side of the mounting plate, the end of the telescopic rod of the electric push rod fixedly connected to the slide seat through a connecting rod, and the side of the slide seat is slidably connected to a dovetail groove block located at the bottom of the electric push rod and fixed on the mounting plate;

[0012] Preferably, the snow removal assembly comprises a rotating shaft and a snow removal plate fixedly arranged on the rotating shaft, and both ends of the rotating shaft are rotatably fixed on walking devices in corresponding directions, and one of the walking devices is provided with a fourth servo motor for driving the rotating shaft to rotate;

[0013] Preferably, proximity switches are provided at both ends of the upper and lower cross bars of the parking rack;

[0014] Preferably, between the upper and lower cross bars of the parking rack, at both ends of the photovoltaic solar panel, there are garbage collectors fixed on the upper and lower cross bars of the parking rack;

[0015] Preferably, the present invention also includes a control system, which includes a motion control module and a computer vision module, wherein the motion control module is used to control the movement of the cleaning robot, and the computer vision module is used to detect contamination or defects on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, calculate its area and position, and generate operating instructions for the cleaning robot and send them to the motion control module.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0017] 1. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot provided by the present invention can judge different cleaning environments and select different cleaning strategies. When the dirt on the solar panel is ordinary floating dust, the photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot moves with a rotating roller brush to achieve cleaning; when the dirt on the solar panel is relatively stubborn, the photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot detects and determines the location of the dirt, and then moves the disc brush to the designated location for cleaning; when the dirt on the solar panel is snow, the robot can start the snow sweeper after the snow reaches a certain thickness, while the roller brush is running, and the robot moves to complete the cleaning, thereby achieving automatic and efficient cleaning of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel, and can also complete dust collection to avoid secondary pollution.

[0018] 2. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot provided by the present invention can withstand a force 12 wind and can be charged with electricity generated by the photovoltaic solar panel, thereby improving the independence and sustainability of the cleaning robot. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 A three-dimensional modeling diagram of a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot in use according to the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2 A top view of the structure of a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to the present invention;

[0021] Figure 3 A bottom view of the structure of a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to the present invention;

[0022] Figure 4 A structural side view of a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to the present invention;

[0023] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the cleaning component of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 6 It is a structural schematic diagram of the dovetail slot block;

[0025] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the protective cover of the present invention;

[0026] In the figure: 1. Photovoltaic solar panel; 2. Parking rack; 3. Crossbar; 4. Walking device; 5. Cleaning device; 6. Garbage collector; 7. Camera; 8. Support platform; 9. Driving wheel; 10. First servo motor; 11. Support wheel; 12. Connecting rod; 13. Roller brush assembly; 14. Fixed-point cleaning assembly; 15. Snow removal assembly; 16. Spindle; 17. Brush; 18. Second servo motor; 19. Synchronous belt linear guide rail; 20. Linear slide; 21. Slide motor; 22. Cleaning parts; 23. Mounting plate; 24. Electric push rod; 25. Telescopic rod; 26. Connecting rod; 27. Slide seat; 28. Dovetail groove block; 29. ​​Third servo motor; 30. Brush plate; 31. Rotating shaft; 32. Snow removal board; 33. Fourth servo motor; 34. Protective cover; 35. Detergent box; 36. Photovoltaic power supply board. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments of the specification.

[0028] like Figure 1 Taking the structure of the present invention in the use state shown in as an example, the present invention provides a photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot, including a parking frame 2 set on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 and a cleaning robot located on the parking frame 2, wherein the parking frame 2 uses two upper and lower parallel cross bars 3 and a vertical pole fixedly set between the two cross bars 3 to form an outer frame of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and a longitudinal support rod is provided on the cross bar 3, so that the entire parking frame 2 can be set on the tilted photovoltaic solar panel 1;

[0029] In this embodiment, the parking rack 2 is made of high-strength C-shaped steel material, which has good wind resistance and corrosion resistance, and is suitable for high altitude and windy environments. The cross-sectional design of the C-shaped steel effectively enhances the stability of the overall structure. By using the finite element method to analyze the wind force on the parking rack 2, the force of the 12-level gale (wind speed reaches 34.4m / s) on the parking rack 2 at an altitude of 10 meters is simulated. In this process, by considering the wind speed, wind direction, geometric dimensions of the parking rack 2 and the mechanical properties of the material. Through finite element simulation, the stress distribution of the parking rack 2 at the maximum wind speed can be obtained. According to the analysis of the finite element analysis results, the maximum stress value of the parking rack 2 is much lower than the yield strength of the C-shaped steel material. This shows that the parking rack 2 can maintain structural stability under the action of the 12-level gale and avoid deformation or damage. Based on the above analysis, the parking rack 2 design can withstand extreme wind force in a strong wind environment without structural damage, ensuring the reliability and safety of the cleaning robot under various weather conditions.

[0030] The cleaning robot is provided with a walking device 4 for driving the entire cleaning robot to move along the upper and lower cross bars 3 of the parking rack 2 and a cleaning device 5 for cleaning the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1;

[0031] The walking device 4 adopts the same structure and is symmetrically arranged on the crossbar 3 located at the upper and lower ends of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1. Specifically, Figure 2-4 As shown, it includes: a support platform 8 and a plurality of driving wheels 9 rotatably arranged on the support platform 8 and driven by a first servo motor 10, and a support wheel 11 rotatably arranged at the bottom of the support platform 8;

[0032] The axis of the driving wheel 9 is arranged parallel to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, so that it can be vertically supported on the crossbar 3, and the crossbar 3 is used as a moving track for the driving wheel 9;

[0033] The axis of the support wheel 11 is perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, so that it can be supported on the cross bar 3 parallel to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, thereby fixing the entire cleaning robot on the parking frame 2 and providing guidance when the driving wheel 9 moves along the cross bar 3.

[0034] In this embodiment, the cross-section of the support platform 8 is preferably L-shaped, and can be formed by vertically welding two steel plates. The bottom plate of the support platform 8 is used to place the first servo motor 10. The output shaft of the first servo motor 10 is fixedly connected to the driving wheel 9 through a bearing arranged on the belly plate of the support platform 8. A support wheel 11 is rotatably arranged under the bottom plate of the support platform 8, that is, by controlling the first servo motor 10 to drive the driving wheel 9 to move along the cross bars 3 at the upper and lower ends of the parking frame 2, thereby driving the entire photovoltaic cleaning robot to move.

[0035] A connecting rod 12 is provided between the two traveling devices 4 , and both ends of the connecting rod 12 are respectively fixed on corresponding supporting platforms 8 , so as to connect the two traveling devices 4 .

[0036] The cleaning device 5 is arranged between the two walking devices 4 so that it is located directly above the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1. When the walking device 4 moves along the crossbar 3, it can drive the cleaning device 5 to move, and gradually clean the dirt or dust and other impurities on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1. It includes: a roller brush assembly 13, a fixed-point cleaning assembly 14 and a snow removal assembly 15, wherein the roller brush assembly 13 is used to remove dust on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, the fixed-point cleaning assembly 14 is used to remove stains somewhere on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and the snow removal assembly 15 is used to clean snow accumulated on the photovoltaic solar panel 1;

[0037] The roller brush assembly 13 is preferably arranged between the fixed-point cleaning assembly 14 and the snow removal assembly 15, so as to facilitate secondary cleaning of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 after cleaning by the fixed-point cleaning assembly 14 and the snow removal assembly 15;

[0038] Specifically, the roller brush assembly 13 includes a main shaft 16 and a brush 17 evenly arranged on the main shaft 16. The axis of the main shaft 16 vertically spans the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and its two ends are rotatably fixed on the support platforms 8 in the corresponding directions. A second servo motor 18 for driving the main shaft 16 to rotate is provided on one of the support platforms 8; that is, by controlling the second servo motor 18 to drive the main shaft 16 to rotate, the brush 17 on the main shaft 16 can clean the dust and other impurities that are easy to clean on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel;

[0039] The fixed-point cleaning component 14 includes a synchronous belt linear slide 19 and a linear slide 20 located on the synchronous belt linear slide 19 and matching it, and a slide motor 21 for driving the synchronous belt linear slide 19, wherein the synchronous belt linear slide 19 vertically spans the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and its two ends are fixed on the support platform 8 in the corresponding direction, and the linear slide 20 is provided with a cleaning component 22 perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1; that is, by controlling the slide motor 21, the linear slide 20 can move along the synchronous belt linear slide 19, thereby driving the cleaning component 22 to move above a stain somewhere on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1.

[0040] Further, such as Figure 5 As shown, the cleaning component 22 includes a mounting plate 23 fixedly connected to the linear slide 20 on one side, and an electric push rod 24 fixedly connected to the other side of the mounting plate 23. The end of the telescopic rod 25 of the electric push rod 24 is fixedly connected to the slide seat 27 through a connecting rod 26. The side of the slide seat 27 is slidably matched with a dovetail groove block 28 located at the bottom of the electric push rod 24 and fixed on the mounting plate 23. The shape of the dovetail groove block 28 is as shown in FIG. Figure 6 As shown, when the telescopic rod 25 is extended upward, the slide 27 is driven to slide along the dovetail groove block 28 through the connecting rod 26, and the third servo motor 29 is fixedly arranged on the slide 27. The output shaft of the third servo motor 29 is perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 and is fixedly connected to the brush plate 30. In this way, the movement of the telescopic rod 25 of the electric push rod 24 can be controlled to realize the contact and separation of the brush plate 30 and the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1. When the two are in contact, the third servo motor 29 is started to drive the brush plate 30 to rotate, so as to clean the stains on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1.

[0041] The snow removal component 15 includes a rotating shaft 31 and a snow removal plate 32 fixedly arranged on the rotating shaft 31. The axis of the rotating shaft 31 vertically spans the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and its two ends are rotatably fixed on the support platforms 8 in the corresponding directions. One of the support platforms 8 is provided with a fourth servo motor 33 for driving the rotating shaft 31 to rotate. The shape of the snow removal plate 32 is preferably an inferior arc shape. In this way, when the fourth servo motor 33 is controlled to drive the rotating shaft 31 to rotate to a certain angle, the rotating shaft 31 drives one end of the snow removal plate 32 to approach the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1. When the walking device 4 moves, the snow on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 is removed.

[0042] In addition, as a preferred technical solution, proximity switches can be installed at both ends of the upper and lower cross bars 3 of the parking rack 2 to limit the travel of the cleaning robot on the cross bars 3.

[0043] Furthermore, between the upper and lower cross bars 3 of the parking rack 2, located at both ends of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, there is a garbage collector 6 fixed on the upper and lower cross bars 3 of the parking rack 2. The garbage collector 6 can be in the shape of a funnel or a shape with grooves, and its surface is lower than the photovoltaic solar panel 1, so as to facilitate the collection and cleaning robot to clean up the dust on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 to avoid polluting the environment.

[0044] Furthermore, the photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot provided by the present invention also includes a control system including a motion control module and a computer vision module, wherein the motion control module is used to control the cleaning robot to perform the above-mentioned motion process, and the computer vision module is used to detect contamination or defects on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and calculate its area and position, and generate operating instructions for the cleaning robot and send them to the motion control module.

[0045] In this embodiment, C++ can be selected as the development language of the motion control module, ROS (Robot Operating System) can be used as the platform development environment of the motion control module, and vscode (Visual Studio Code) integrated development environment management tool can be used for development to improve development efficiency and code maintainability.

[0046] The computer vision module adopts Gaussian segmentation and region growing algorithms based on computer vision, which can realize the recognition and positioning of dirt or defects on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1.

[0047] The specific implementation is as follows: First, through the high-resolution RGB camera 7 installed at the front end of the walking device 4, the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 is imaged under uniform lighting conditions. The captured image should cover the entire surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 to ensure that there is no blind spot. Then, the collected image is gray-scale converted to simplify the image information, and then the noise is removed by a Gaussian filter to improve the clarity of the image. After the image preprocessing is completed, a Gaussian bandpass filter is applied to enhance the intermediate frequency information of the image. First, a Gaussian low-pass filter is performed to remove the high-frequency noise in the image, and then the important high-frequency information is extracted by subtracting the original image from the low-pass filtered image. This not only retains the details of the image, but also removes the interference of the low-frequency background. Finally, the image is segmented using the regional growing method. The pixel with the highest pixel value is selected as the seed point, and the pixel is gradually expanded by the regional growing method. Based on the similarity of the gray value, the adjacent pixels are classified as the same contaminated area. Finally, the contaminated area is marked, and its area and position are calculated, and the operation instructions of the cleaning robot are generated and sent to the motion control module. Through precise image processing technology, automatic detection of contamination and defects of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 is achieved, providing reliable data support for the cleaning of the photovoltaic solar panel 1.

[0048] Preferably, Figure 7 As shown, the present invention can also be provided with a protective cover 34 on the two walking devices 4, and the two ends of the protective cover 34 are correspondingly fixed on the corresponding opposite support platforms 8. In this embodiment, the protective cover 34 is arched, and the shapes of its two ends match the L-shaped cross-section support platform 8, and the two can be fixed by using a pad with bolts to protect the cleaning device 5 inside the cleaning robot;

[0049] Furthermore, a detergent box 35 and a photovoltaic power supply panel 36 are provided on the protective cover 34, wherein the detergent is stored in the detergent box 35 and is connected to the brush plate 30 through a hose, and an air pump is provided on the hose, that is, the detergent in the detergent box 35 is extracted by controlling the air pump, and sprayed from the brush plate 30 to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1 through the hose, so as to assist the brush plate 30 in cleaning the stains on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel 1, and a detergent detection device such as a sensor may be provided inside the detergent box 35 to detect the content of the detergent in the detergent box 35;

[0050] The photovoltaic power supply panel 36 is used to provide electrical energy for the cleaning robot, and the amount of electricity in the photovoltaic power supply panel 36 is detected by an electric quantity detection device.

[0051] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot, comprising a parking frame (2) mounted on the surface of a photovoltaic solar panel (1) and a cleaning robot located on the parking frame (2), the cleaning robot being provided with a walking device (4) for driving the entire cleaning robot to move along two upper and lower cross bars (3) of the parking frame (2) and a cleaning device (5) for cleaning the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), the walking device (4) having the same structure and being symmetrically arranged on the cross bars (3) located at the upper and lower ends of the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1); It is characterized in that The cleaning device (5) comprises: a rolling brush assembly (13) for removing dust from the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), a fixed-point cleaning assembly (14) for removing stains from the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), and a snow removal assembly (15) for clearing snow accumulated on the photovoltaic solar panel (1).

2. The solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The walking device (4) comprises: a support platform (8) and a plurality of driving wheels (9) rotatably arranged on the support platform (8) and driven by a first servo motor (10), and a supporting wheel (11) rotatably arranged at the bottom of the support platform (8), wherein the axis of the driving wheel (9) is arranged parallel to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), and the axis of the supporting wheel (11) is perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), and a connecting rod (12) is arranged between the two walking devices (4), and the two ends of the connecting rod (12) are respectively fixed on the corresponding support platform (8).

3. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The cross section of the support platform (8) is L-shaped.

4. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The roller brush assembly (13) comprises a main shaft (16) and a brush (17) arranged on the main shaft (16); the axis of the main shaft (16) vertically spans the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1); and its two ends are rotatably fixed on walking devices (4) in corresponding directions; one of the walking devices (4) is provided with a second servo motor (18) for driving the main shaft (16) to rotate.

5. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fixed-point cleaning component (14) comprises a synchronous belt linear slide rail (19), a linear slide table (20) located on the synchronous belt linear slide rail (19) and matched therewith, and a slide table motor (21) for driving the synchronous belt linear slide rail (19), wherein the synchronous belt linear slide rail (19) vertically spans the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), and its two ends are fixed on the walking device (4) in the corresponding direction, and the linear slide table (20) is provided with a cleaning component (22) perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1).

6. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: The cleaning component (22) comprises a mounting plate (23) fixedly connected to the linear slide (20) on one side, an electric push rod (24) fixedly connected to the other side of the mounting plate (23), an end of a telescopic rod (25) of the electric push rod (24) fixedly connected to a slide seat (27) via a connecting rod (26), and a side surface of the slide seat (27) slidably connected to a dovetail groove block (28) located at the bottom of the electric push rod (24) and fixed on the mounting plate (23).

7. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The snow removal assembly (15) comprises a rotating shaft (31) and a snow removal plate (32) fixedly arranged on the rotating shaft (31); both ends of the rotating shaft (31) are rotatably fixed on walking devices (4) in corresponding directions; one of the walking devices (4) is provided with a fourth servo motor (33) for driving the rotating shaft (31) to rotate.

8. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: Proximity switches are provided at both ends of the upper and lower cross bars (3) of the parking frame (2).

9. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: Between the upper and lower cross bars (3) of the parking frame (2), located at both ends of the photovoltaic solar panel (1), a garbage collector (6) fixed on the upper and lower cross bars (3) of the parking frame (2) is provided.

10. The photovoltaic solar panel cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a control system, which includes a motion control module and a computer vision module, wherein the motion control module is used to control the movement of the cleaning robot, and the computer vision module is used to detect contamination or defects on the surface of the photovoltaic solar panel (1).

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