A SIMPLE PREDICTIVE CONTROLLER FOR USE ON LARGE-SCALE ARRAYS OF PARABOLIC TROUGH COLLECTORS

Efficient operation of a distributed collector field requires effectiv e regulation of the outlet temperature. Control schemes utilising PI b ased controllers, whether adaptive or fixed parameter, have been shown to be unsuitable for this application. The reason for this is that su ch collector fields possess resonance dynamics at a low frequency whic h tend to restrict the bandwidth of such controllers. In this article a predictive controller is proposed whose purpose is to effectively co unter such dynamics. This control technique is based upon a simple tra nsfer function representation of the resonance dynamics which can be t uned using easily obtained experimental data and is computationally ef ficient. When applied to a validated nonlinear computer model of the c ollector field the controller is seen to exhibit a fast well damped co ntrol response superior to that achievable using PI control. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.