Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105

www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

E€ects of sandblasting on the eciencies of

solar panels
N. Bouaouadja*,1, S. Bouzid, M. Hamidouche,
C. Bousbaa, M. Madjoubi
Laboratoire MateÂriaux, I.O.M.P. Universite Ferhat Abbas, SeÂtif 19000, Algerie

Abstract
Photovoltaic solar-energy can be a solution, if eciently used, for providing electri®cation,
water pumping and communications in inaccessible regions as in the south of Algeria. The
glass protected solar panels made for these purposes are, however, constantly exposed to the
damaging e€ects caused by sandstorms. These occur particularly in spring with velocities that
can reach 120 km/h, and for various durations, typically 48 h. The small particles of sand
(of average size <120 mm) rise high into the atmosphere, and the relatively large particles
(average size >120 mm) remain at lower altitudes and at ground level. This preliminary work
considers the e€ects of the sandblasting duration on the eciencies of solar panels. The results
show that the solar panels' eciencies decrease during sandstorms, and some of these
decreases are permanent when the protective glass sheets are damaged by erosion. # 1999
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Sinke [1] has reported that the challenge in using photovolataic energy is to ®nd the
optimal combination of eciency and cost of the solar panels. New technologies of
photovoltaic energy are oriented toward the use of new materials such as gallium
arsenide, copper indium diselenide, cadmium telluride, etc. . . to improve their e-
ciency. The eciency of commonly used silicon cells is between 10 and 15%. It is
de®ned as the ratio of the maximum power output to the power of the incident light
obtained under standard conditions (i.e. 1000 W/m2 illumination at 25 C temperature).
Besides the technological limits of the silicon solar panels used in Saharian regions of
Algeria, solutions should also be provided to reduce the damaging e€ects of sandstorms

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +213-5-858-658; fax: +213-5-858-658.

1
Agence Nationale pour le Developpement de la Recherche Universitaire.

0306-2619/00/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0306-2619(99)00044-6
100 N. Bouaouadja et al. / Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105

on the protective glass sheets. The state of each surface plays an important role in the
various applications of glass sheets, because it a€ects their mechanical and physical
properties [2]. In most applications, the glass surface is exposed to a variety of external
agressive conditions such as corrosion, chemical reactions and mechanical damage.
Ru€ and Wiederhorn [3] have reported that the erosion of brittle materials, such
as glasses, is a€ected by many factors such as: the properties of the impact particles
(i.e. their size, shape, density, hardness and fracture toughness); the properties of
target materials (i.e. their hardness, fracture toughness and surface state), and the
test conditions (i.e. the impact speed, impact angle and ambient temperature).
Among all these properties, the hardness HV and the fracture toughness KC are
the two main properties in¯uencing the erosion. A material having both high hard-
ness and high toughness will exhibit an excellent anti-erosive behaviour.
In a recent work, Bousbaa et al. [4] studied the e€ects of sandblasting duration on
the optical and mechanical properties of a window glass by simulating a sandstorm.
They showed that the optical transmission and the bending strength drop sharply dur-
ing the ®rst 90 min of exposure and tend to remain invariant afterwards. This behaviour
can be explained by the appearance of small zones of damage on the glass surface: these
develop by erosion. Their study clearly showed that the glass in its as-received state
(unstrengthened) is very susceptible to such mechanical damage.
In view of replacing the imported solar panels protective glass by an improved
locally-made soda lime glass, we have undertaken various strengthening procedures
(i.e. strengthening by thermal treatment, chemical treatment or by pyrolysis coating)
in order to make the glass more resistant to erosive damage. After comparison of the
optical and mechanical properties resulting after the di€erent strengthening methods
had been applied, we opted for the ion-exchange chemical treatment (see Table 1).
This process makes the glass less tolerant to erosive damage by putting the surface
under high compressive stress to a depth of about 100 mm [5]. This depth exceeds
those of the craters induced by the sandblasting.
The present paper deals with the e€ects of the sandblasting duration (up to 300
min) on the mechanical and optical properties of the local protective glass-sheet and
the eciency of solar panels.

2. Experimental work

The sand used comes from the desert region of Biskra (south of Algeria). The
shape of the grains is irregular but approximately spherical (Fig. 1). The average

Table 1
Some characteristics obtained of the soda-lime glass studied in the as-recived state and strengthened che-
mically by ion exchange
p
Glass state RF (MPa) KC (Mpa m) HV (GPa) T (%)

As-received 87.5 0.92 4.61 91.5

Treated by ion exchange 110 0.87 7.84 91.2
 N. Bouaouadja et al. / Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105 101

Fig. 1. Optical micrograph showing the irregular shapes of the sand particles.

grain size varies between 95 and 780 mm. The Vickers microhardness of the sand
grains, which were embedded in a thermosetting resin and polished, was measured
under a 0.5 N load. The obtained mean value was 7.32 (‹2.94) GPa. This micro-
hardness scattering is probably due to the chemical nature of the grains which contain
di€erent amounts of oxides.
The material used is a laminated soda-lime glass, manufactured by ENAVA [6]
(an Algerian ®rm). The glass sheets were delivered in their as-received state with a
thickness of 3 mm. Its principal chemical components are 72.3% SiO2, 6.7% CaO
and 14.7% Na2O. Glass samples with dimensions (50203 mm) were prepared
and mechanically toughened by ion exchange during 5 h at 460 C. The salt bath
used contains 98% KNO3 and 2% Al2O3. The super®cial microhardness obtained is
7.84 GPa (see Table 1).
We have used a solar generator made of 18 polycrystalline-silicon cells. The tech-
nical characteristics of the panel are as follows: PMAX=4.8 W, IP(MAX)=0.6 A,
UP(MAX)=8 V and TMAX=70 C. The photovoltaic eciency was determined from
the exposure of one single cell having the dimensions (50 mm20 mm).
There are numerous parameters that have to be taken into account when per-
forming the sandstorm simulation and in evaluating the photovoltaic-panel e-
ciency. In this preliminary study, the experimental procedure taken is as follows: for
each surface tested, the samples were ®rst exposed to sandblasting for di€erent
durations. We have continuously measured the variation of the optical transmission
and the roughness of the sandblasted surface. We have then placed these samples on
the cell surface in order to estimate the resulting eciency changes under ambient
temperature (28 C) at midday (i.e between 12 and 14 h GMT).
102 N. Bouaouadja et al. / Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105

In order to simulate the e€ects of the sandstorm durations on the solar-cells' e-
ciencies, a sand blower apparatus was employed. The schematic illustration of this
equipment is given in Fig. 2. As shown in this ®gure, the erosion tests were carried
out with a stationary target impacted upon by sand particles accelerated in an air
stream by a ventilator. The air blower velocity was measured using an anemometer
and was found to be 20 m/s. The sand feed during the erosion tests was about 1.54 g/
s and the impingement angle was ®xed at 90 (i.e. the specimens' surfaces are per-
pendicular to the air ¯ow). The distance between the pipe convergent nozzle and the
specimens was adjusted to 25 cm, so that the particle velocity becomes nearly con-
stant upon the approach to the target. Prior to the tests, the sand used was washed
and dried in order to eliminate dust. Di€erent test durations (up to 300 min) were
carried out using periods each of 60 min duration.
The roughness measurements were made with a surface pro®lometer ``Hommel
Tester T20'' on three di€erent spots on the samples. The optical transmission mea-
surements were carried out on the washed and dried specimens using a micro-
densitometer ``MD 100 type Carl Zeiss''. Finally, the eroded surfaces were examined
with a ``Neophot 21'' optical microscope.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 3 shows the variations of the optical transmission T and the roughness Ra
versus the sandblasting duration (up to 300 min). The two curves indicate an
important variation at the beginning, but tend towards a constant level after about 2
h of exposure. The optical transmission drop is 16%. Observations of the exposed
surface revealed the development of small craters that are randomly distributed, as

Fig. 2. Illustration of the sand-blower apparatus.

 N. Bouaouadja et al. / Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105 103

well as the formation of lateral microcracks. Under continuous sand-particle

impacts, these microcracks develop into ¯akes (Fig. 4). It is well known from
indentation theory [7] that these lateral microcracks on brittle materials are caused
mostly by sharp particles or by blunt particles with relatively high impact forces. It
also appears clear, that the damaged zones were of di€erent sizes. The density and
extent of these surface ¯aws increase with the duration of the exposure to sandblasting.

Fig. 3. Dependences of the optical transmission T and the roughness Ra upon the erosion time t.

Fig. 4. Optical photograph of typical damaged surface after a duration of 1 h.

104 N. Bouaouadja et al. / Applied Energy 65 (2000) 99±105

Fig. 5. Variation of the relative eciency versus sandblasting duration.

A signi®cant increase in the roughness of the exposed surface was noticed before
reaching an average constant level of about 0.66 mm.
The panel's relative eciency variation versus sandblasting duration is shown in
Fig. 5. The slight drop to 0.91 is mostly related to the presence of the super®cial
¯aws that a€ect the light transmission. In operational conditions, the light trans-
mission can also be a€ected by dust that rests on the damaged zones.

4. Conclusion

In order to examine the e€ects of sandblasting duration on the solar panels' e-
ciency, we have simulated a sandstorm. There are many erosion parameters that
a€ect their properties. It appears that the sandblasting for up to 300 min has a
relatively weak e€ect on the solar cells' eciency. The state of the glass surface
a€ects the photovoltaic eciency of the tested solar panel.

References

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[3] Ru€ AW, Wiederhorn SM. Treat Mater Sci and Techn 1979;16:69.
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[4] Bousbaa C, et al. The e€ects of duration of sandblasting on the properties of window glass. Glass
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