ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS (OPV) or
ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS (OSC)

The Field:

This is an exciting new field with following advantages:
Glove Box Photo1 IPCE Instruments Photo1

My Work:

My assignment was to setup an Instrument Lab for half-million dollars involving about dozen companies. Even though it was a new area to me, I completed it successfully and went beyond the requirements to make automations. This project involved the following steps:
  1. Discussing with scientists in the related field to determine the needs and options.
  2. Analyzing the market for available choices and contacting/visiting companies.
  3. Obtaining quotes and selecting equipments.
  4. Writing the needed justification documents to the University.
  5. Processing the purchases orders and following the order with companies.
  6. Taking delivery of the instruments and testing.
  7. Installing the instruments with the help of manuals or get them installed by the company.
  8. Learning to operate all the instruments and generate Standard Operating procedures.
  9. Training the students to use these instruments.
  10. Automation and automated-calculations for major instruments (voluntary; needed learning several aspects of Python: basics, communication and GUI).

My Automation Projects (Python): Automated FET Plot & Calculations (FET-Analyze.py)! GUI Program for Testing Solar Cells (Solar_GUI_v2.py)! Automated PCE Plot & Calculations (PCE-Analyze.py)! Computer-Controlled 8 ON/OFF Switches (Switcher.py)

FET-Analyze.py:

This is my first Python program. This allowed me to move away from all ASCII. This is one of a kind fully automated data plot and analysis program. It fully eliminates the data analysis time and the total experiment time is reduced by 50% even with more results. It is capable of creating one page report for each experiment with plots and calculated results, for an entire folder of files. Also best results of all experiments are summarized in a summary file. Days of experiments can be processed and analyzed within minutes with this 400 lines program. See a Picture See HighLights

Solar-PCE.py:

This is my first instrument operating program. This small (200 lines) program operates two instruments to collect important experimental data. It also immediately analyzes and produces one page report with charts and results for each experiment. See HighLights

Solar_GUI.py:

This is my first GUI based program. In addition to providing full GUI support for all the features/inputs of the above program, it also controls two additional equipments for full automation. It is capable of running experiments for weeks without human intervention. (>400 lines). See a Picture See HighLights

PCE-Analyze.py:

It is capable of analyzing the data from Solar-PCE.py or commercially bought program to produce identical one page report with more options. It is also capable of analyzing entire folder of files with a summary report containing best results from each experiment. (300 lines). See a Picture See HighLights

Switcher.py:

Bought a Parallel Port controllable relay switch board (8 switches) and connected it to the shutter of the light source. Included codes in the Solar_GUI program to make the shutter control automatic. All the 8 switches can also be controlled by this Switcher program so that up to 8 systems can be controlled! See a Picture

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Created by Dr. A. Chandrasekaran
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, AMHERST, MA 01003, USA.

Suggestions Welcome!