CASCADE CONTROL OF A DISTRIBUTED COLLECTOR SOLAR FIELD

This paper reports experimental results on the cascade control of a di stributed collector solar field. The control problem consists of keepi ng constant the field outlet oil temperature by acting on the circulat ing oil flow used for heat transfer. In the inner loop an adaptive mod el based predictive controller exploiting the information conveyed by accessible disturbances (radiation changes and inlet oil temperature) is used, while in the outer loop a PID is employed. The need for adapt ive control arises from the time varying behaviour of the plant. Due t o the generality of the methods employed, the experience reported is r elevant to a wide class of industrial processes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.