IPV-IoT Matching Diagram

The provided software is a Python-based tool designed to evaluate the compatibility of indoor photovoltaic (IPV) devices with IoT systems under various illumination conditions. It facilitates creating IoT-IPV matching diagrams to assess the usability of IPV devices for specific IoT applications. The tool bridges the gap between laboratory data for IPV performance and practical IoT energy requirements by integrating features tailored to the unique challenges of indoor environments.



Guide on using the IoT-IPV diagram matching software

1. Loading button for the IPV device

                The data for the IPV device should be acquired at a fixed source illumination temperature as function of the incident illumination power density, and formatted as a .txt file where the first column is the illumination power density in mW.cm^-2, and the second column is the efficiency in %. The script will then calculate the corresponding power generation density in mW.cm^-2.

2. Definition of IoT devices

                For each IoT device, the name, surface area, and peak power consumption in mW should be entered according to the manufacturer’s data. The script will then calculate the corresponding power consumption density in mW.cm^-2. If the available surface area for IPV is smaller than the total area of the IoT device, this can be adjusted using the scaling factor slider described point 5.

3. List of devices

                Each IPV and IoT device is listed here. They can be individually removed from the graph using the corresponding button.

4. Export of data and additional functionalities.

                The buttons “export graph and data” and “generate report” are self-explanatory.

                The tick box “show detailed balance limit” overlays the detailed balance limit as calculated for an LED illumination at 5000K. This is particularly useful to visualise whether IPV is a suitable solution to power an IoT device.

                The tick box “log scale y-axis” is self-explanatory and allows for a better visualisation for cases with a large discrepancy between the power density of the different devices.

                IPV to IoT Power Loss Factor: this slider allows to take into account the conversion losses when interfacing an IPV system with an IoT system. This will depend mostly on the associated power electronic system, and it applies to all of the represented IPV devices present on the graph.

5. IoT device scaling factor

                This slider permits to evaluate cases where the surface area available for IPV is different than that of the total surface area of the IoT system. As it is device-specific, a new slider is created for each additional IoT device.

6. Illumination range

                The lower and upper expected illumination boundaries can be defined here in mW.cm², which overlays a yellow area on the graph. This allows to quickly visualise the useability of IPV in a realistic illumination power density range.

Additional features will be added in the near future, such as the creation of a database of IoT system preloaded into the script.