FC100 PV Cleaning Kit: turning rooftop PV cleaning into a single flight
A cleaning kit for rooftop distributed and centralised PV arrays, already at work at the Ma'anshan rooftop PV plant and the Bongabon project in the Philippines.
PV cleaning is an underrated O&M task: dust, bird droppings and the pollen and straw debris common in farming areas shade the modules and directly cut output, and the shading is rarely even — partial shading on one module drags down a whole string. The FC100 PV Cleaning Kit is designed for exactly these arrays.
An array is not a building facade
- The work surface is a whole tilted or flat array, and the aircraft flies planned routes above it
- Obstacles are mainly mounting frames, cable trays and wiring rather than projections on a facade
- The aim is to remove shading, not to polish the surface: pressure and flow follow the level of soiling
- Care is needed around junction boxes, frames and the sealed edges of the modules
What the kit is made of
- Spray unit: 3 nozzles / 2 pumps with electronically controlled flow from 5–20 L/min
- Spray head: swing angle 5–65°, interchangeable nozzles at 0° / 15° / 25° / 40°
- Water supply: 1.5 MPa pump, 75 L tank capacity, complete set under 8 kg
- Control: PSDK communication, 36–72 V supply, powered from the aircraft
How a single flight runs
Routes are planned along the array: the aircraft works row by row in the direction the modules are laid out, holding a constant height and speed so the spray width matches the row spacing. Nozzle angle and flow are preset to the level of soiling and only trimmed in flight, so results on the same array are comparable from one visit to the next.
For plant O&M, comparability is the value: the output difference before and after cleaning must be attributable to the cleaning itself, not diluted by random variation in operating parameters. That is why the kit fixes nozzle angles in a few steps rather than allowing continuous adjustment.
Projects already delivered
The kit is already at work on two projects: a rooftop PV plant in Ma'anshan, Anhui, and a PV project in Bongabon, the Philippines. Rooftops carry more constraints than the ground — roof load capacity, surrounding parapets and airflow disturbance from neighbouring buildings all affect route planning and work windows.
Why a purpose-built kit instead of a generic setup
PV arrays are regular and large, but the job does not need very high pressure — The kit uses quick-release structures and needs no airframe modification on the FC100; the same hardware covers both rooftop distributed arrays and centralised plants.