Cho and colleagues take the plate demonstration and put it to work. Dust settling on solar panels is a real limit on the working life of exploration rovers, and their opening line states the problem plainly: "The buildup of dust on solar panels has significantly reduced the operational lifespan and mission performance of exploration rovers."
They tested 380 × 380 × 5 mm square and octagonal plates, identifying three effective frequencies for each — 50, 180 and 380 Hz for the square, 50, 220 and 350 Hz for the octagonal — and then ran six different orderings of those frequencies. The sequence matters, because each resonance sweeps dust to a different nodal set. With sand present, output fell from 8.977 W to 2.262 W. The best sequence recovered 7.026 W on the square plate and 7.235 W on the octagonal. Tilting the panel to 15° recovered 8.645 W and 8.897 W with complete removal.
Published 13 January 2025 in Scientific Reports.