Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1
Red Deer Polytechnic
$25,000.00
Optimizing water usage in a mechanical solar panel cleaning device
FY 2021-22
Summary
Wash-Bots Canada Ltd. is a small (less than 50 employees) Canadian company located in Edmonton, Alberta.Wash-Bots has expanded their large vehicle cleaning business into cleaning solar panels. Through exposure tomany different large mega-Watt solar fields, they decided to develop a simpler device to address the challengeof cleaning fields in which the panels track the sun. These fields have power cables running along the groundthat pose a difficulty to tractor-operated cleaning systems that must drive along the rows of panels. Wash-Botshas created their first prototype but require some technical research to reduce water usage and optimizecleaning. Red Deer College's Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing -Technology Access Centre (CIM-TAC)will help them with these technical issues. Once developed, Wash-Bots will manufacture, maintain, and sellthese units to solar fields across the world.
Program
Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1
Recipient
Location
Alberta, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
565228-2021
Name nom
Toews, Maureen
Department département
Head Office
Organization id
102293
Institution établissement
Red Deer Polytechnic
Province en
Alberta
Province fr
Alberta
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2021
Competition year année de concours
2021
Award amount
25000
Program id
CARD1
Program name en
Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1
Program name fr
Subventions de recherche et développement appliquée - niveau 1
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
1561
Committee name en
Applied Research and Development Grants
Committee name fr
Subventions de recherche et développement appliquée
Area of application code
303
Area of application group en
Energy resources
Area of application group fr
Ressources d'énergie
Area of application en
Alternative energy resources
Area of application fr
Autres ressources d'énergie
Research subject code
1701
Research subject group en
Design and manufacturing
Research subject group fr
Conception et fabrication
Research subject en
Engineering design
Research subject fr
Conception technique
Installment
inst:1
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Optimizing water usage in a mechanical solar panel cleaning device
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
Wash-Bots Canada Ltd. is a small (less than 50 employees) Canadian company located in Edmonton, Alberta.Wash-Bots has expanded their large vehicle cleaning business into cleaning solar panels. Through exposure tomany different large mega-Watt solar fields, they decided to develop a simpler device to address the challengeof cleaning fields in which the panels track the sun. These fields have power cables running along the groundthat pose a difficulty to tractor-operated cleaning systems that must drive along the rows of panels. Wash-Botshas created their first prototype but require some technical research to reduce water usage and optimizecleaning. Red Deer College's Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing -Technology Access Centre (CIM-TAC)will help them with these technical issues. Once developed, Wash-Bots will manufacture, maintain, and sellthese units to solar fields across the world.
