[RE-wrenches] Shedding ice

[boB at midnitesolar.com]

On 1/16/2012 11:39 AM, David Katz wrote:
> Mark,
> I believe the Midnite Classic has this feature built in. Check with them.
> David Katz
>


It just snowed up here in Arlington, Washington A.C.  and we were just 
starting to melt some snow
on a couple of modules on our roof just now with one of our charge 
controllers here in the lab.

This feature is not yet in the Classic, BUT, check out this experiment 
that I did about 3 years ago
in my front yard with an animated gif time lapse.

One module is being powered and the other is not powered, just sitting 
there for comparison.
These are KC125s.

The time involved here was about 3 hours and took about 1 kW-hour of 
energy but gives you
an idea of what may be done with this idea.  One thing not in our favor 
here is that the module
that is being powered is resting on the ground, in the snow, which would 
significantly
hinder snow melting I would think rather than being properly mounted.

Oh what fun it is to melt some PV snow tonight !

http://fusion.midnitesolar.com/PVsnowMelt3.gif

boB








> *From*: Mark Dickson [mailto:Mark at OasisMontana.com]
> *Sent*: Monday, January 16, 2012 10:00 AM
> *To*: 'RE-wrenches' <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> *Subject*: [RE-wrenches] Shedding ice
>
> I recall a conversation a while back about the possibility of 
> "reversing" the current in a solar module to increase the cell temp 
> enough to shed ice/rime.  To follow-up, has anybody been successful at 
> this?  I am guessing, if so, it would entail, removal of diodes, 
> increasing PV and battery capacity and some way to sense the ice at 
> the very least. . . It sounds good in theory, but I am skeptical as to 
> whether it will work in reality. . .
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mark Dickson,
>
> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer ^(TM)
>
> Oasis Montana Inc.
>
>

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