An approach for designing smart manufacturing for the research and development of dye-sensitize solar cell

The research and development (R&D) of the scale-up process of third-generation photovoltaics (PVs) can benefit from the emerging trends and technologies related to the Industrial Internet of Things. However, to migrate the small-scale laboratory PVs products to a larger version of the industrial scale, a processing platform is needed to design, fabricate, and test the production line. In this paper, after a brief introduction of the production process of thin-film PVs, specifically dye-sensitized solar cells, the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) has been applied to the R&D scenario for the production of thin-film PVs, in order to synchronize and manage the large amount of data generated by the real, virtual or hybrid production devices and processes. The results of this study suggest that the future implementation of IIRA is a reliable option in a learning factory environment for multidisciplinary collaboration, research training in novel technologies and methods in the Tijuana Institute of Technology. This contribution is in order to optimize and scale-up the production process of a new generation of solar cells.