Control of a solar furnace using active cooling

摘要

This paper explores a control architecture for a solar furnace that uses active cooling to improve the temperature reference tracking during the decreasing phase of the reference. This is done in conjunction with the command of the shutter that adjusts the incident power and compensates sun power variability due to weather conditions. The controller uses exact linerization coupled with a PI controller to handle model parameter uncertainty. Off-line identification is employed to characterize the temperature dynamics, this is used to avoid online adaptation mechanisms that may cause stability problems during the controller startup, that may melt the material sample. Experimental results obtained from the plant in closed loop control using active cooling are presented.