Innovative African University Student Builds Solar Panel That Cleans Itself of Dust Without Human Intervention

• A brilliant Ghanaian student has produced a self-cleaning solar panel device as part of his school project
• The device reduces the cost of hiring manual cleaners, the risk of climbing rooftops and improves the efficiency of the solar panels
• The gentleman named Issahaku Walaman-i got the brainwave to produce the device after his school, Ashesi University installed 720 solar panels that got dusty overtime

Issahaku Walaman-i, a brilliant final year student at Ashesi University in Ghana has, as his final year project, built an innovative device that keeps solar panels clean without any direct human intervention.

A publication by Ashesi University indicates that by the time Issahaku Walaman-i enrolled at Ashesi as an Engineering student, the university had installed 720 solar panels across roofs on campus.

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During his time on campus, Issahaku noticed that dust accumulated quickly on the university's solar panels during dry seasons and therefore dedicated his senior year project to building a device that could be deployed to clean solar panels automatically.

How the self-cleaning solar device works

The solar panel cleaning device consists of a casing, a rotating cleaning brush, and a sprinkler setup connected to a water source, all of which work together to perform a to-and-fro motion that helps clean the dust on the surface of the panel.

Aside from reducing the risk of climbing to manually clean solar panels and also the accumulated cost of hiring manual cleaners, Issahaku explained the problem his innovation solves in the words:

"When the dust settles on the surface of the solar panels, it reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the panel and consequentially, the amount of power and efficiency of the panel is also reduced."

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Social media comments

Paul Gyen Juniors commented:

Wondering if the device itself is solar-powered. And also wondering: if a building roof is already full of solar panels, it'd need to be redesigned for this new device to fit.

Nana Kwame Yeboah indicated:

Brilliant idea. Good start. Going forward, the dust should not pollute the area. Otherwise, other panels will become dirty as a result of the cleaning process. A dust collection bag and suction system can be attached. Great effort. Keep improving it.

Watch the video below

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In another story, Briefly News reported that Tlhologelo Mashala from Limpopo in Tzaneen has the heart, mind, and hands of a game-changing innovator.

Speaking to Briefly News the 26-old-young man shared about the invention of a gasoline bicycle that he has been working on since high school in 2014 and has been working to master it despite limited resources and being a full-time student.

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“When I was still in high school, I used to ride my bicycle to and from school, which was about 4.5km away from home one way. I would often get to school late and exhausted. I even missed morning classes at times,” he said.

Source: Briefly News