mppTracker

python max power point tracker for solar cells (hopefully robust enough for perovskites)

Installation

Windows and MacOS

Install Anaconda from here (Choose the largest python version number)

Run the "Anaconda Prompt" program that was installed in step #1 and type the following in:

conda update --all
conda install git pyserial
pip install pyvisa pyvisa-py
git clone https://github.com/AFMD/mppTracker
cd mppTracker
# now see Usage section below

Ubuntu

TODO

Arch Linux

TODO

Usage

$ ./mppTracker.py -h
usage: mppTracker.py [-h] [--dummy] [--visa_lib VISA_LIB] [--reverse_polarity]
                     [--file FILE] [--scan]
                     [address] [t_dwell] [t_total]

Max power point tracker for solar cells using a Keithley 2400 sourcemeter
(hopefully robust enough for perovskites). Data is written to stdout and human
readable messages are written to stderr.

positional arguments:
  address              VISA resource name for sourcemeter
  t_dwell              Total number of seconds for the dwell phase(s)
  t_total              Total number of seconds to run for

optional arguments:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  --dummy              Run in dummy mode (doesn't need sourcemeter, generates
                       simulated device data)
  --visa_lib VISA_LIB  Path to visa library in case pyvisa can't find it, try
                       C:\Windows\system32\visa64.dll
  --reverse_polarity   Swaps voltage polarity on output terminals.
  --file FILE          Write output data stream to this file in addition to
                       stdout.
  --scan               Scan for obvious VISA resource names, print them and
                       exit

Output format

This program streams csv formatted data to stdout allowing the max power point tracking algorithm to be monitored in real time. The data has four columns:

1 if the program is in "exploration mode" (i.e. looking for a new max power point) or 0 if the program is in "dwell mode" (monitoring current at a previously found Vmpp).
timestamp in seconds since the routine started.
the measured device voltage [V]
the measured device current [A]

Requirements

pyvisa (tested with version 1.8)
pyvisa-py (tested with version 0.2, this is optional depending on how your sourcemeter is attached)

Examples

python mppTracker.py GPIB0::24::INSTR 10 120 # GPIB attached sourcemeter
python mppTracker.py TCPIP::192.168.1.54::INSTR 10 120 # ethernet attached sourcemeter
python mppTracker.py USB0::0x1AB1::0x0588::DS1K00005888::INSTR 10 120 # USB attached sourcemeter
python mppTracker.py ASRL3::INSTR 10 120 # rs232 attached 10 sourcemeter on com3
python mppTracker.py ASRL/dev/ttyUSB0::INSTR 10 120 # rs232 attached sourcemeter

AFMD / mppTracker

readme