Optimizing the DSSC Fabrication Process using Lean Six Sigma
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Optimizing the DSSC Fabrication Process using Lean Six Sigma Brian Fauss, Lakshmi V. Munukutla, Laura Main, Gerald Polesky, and Arunachalanadar M. Kannan Arizona State University, Department of Engineering Technology, 6075 S. Williams Campus Loop, TECH Building, Mesa, AZ 85212, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) belong to an innovative third generation photovoltaic technology, which is demonstrating tremendous potential to become a revolutionary technology due to recent breakthroughs in fabrication cost. A seven-step quality improvement method is implemented to enhance process efficiency and effectiveness of the DSSCs. Lean Manufacturing’s 5S method successfully increased efficiency in all of the processes. Six Sigma’s DMAIC methodology is used to identify and eliminate each of the root causes of defects in the critical titanium dioxide deposition process. These optimizations resulted with the following significant improvements in the production process: 1. fabrication time of the DSSCs is reduced by 54 %; 2. fabrication procedures improved to the extent eliminated all critical defects 3. The yield of good cells increased from 17% to 90%. INTRODUCTION The research focus in this study is concentrated on optimizing the fabrication of dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs) at Arizona State University. One of the project goals is to implement process control methods to achieve repeatable fabrication processes. Due to manual fabrication processes several non-standardized fabrication methods and procedures have prevented the consistent production of optimized DSSCs. Every defect negatively impacted cell performance, but certain defects are found to be fatal, and as a result non-functional DSSCs yielded. Systematic process improvements are implemented by taking an analytical approach for solving these fabrication issues. The DSSC fabrication includes four processes and three supporting sub-processes. Various methods are used to improve and control the DSSC fabrication processes and procedures, but no single method suits every process. The list of methods used for controlling the DSSC fabrication processes are: fundamental principles of Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma (5S, DMAIC), thermal modeling and standardization through “standard operating procedures” (SOPs.) Six of the seven procedures are optimized using common process improvement methods. However, the titanium dioxide deposition process requires the use of Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a more analytical method to identify root causes of the defects. LSS is a popular quality improvement methodology that is used by many of the most successful solar cell production companies in the world [1-2]. These companies have demonstrated the ability of using LSS to reduce waste and defects while also reducing production costs and time. This experiment conducted at ASU uses appropriately scaled LSS tools for the fabrication of DSSCs. The DSSCs electron transfer activity occurs within the TiO2 layer. Coating a layer of TiO2 onto the working electrode is a delicate procedure.
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