Packed bed units generally, represent the most suitable storage units for air heating solar systems. In these systems the storage unit receives the heat from the collector during the collection period and discharges the heat to the building at the retrieval process. A method for sizing of packedbed storage in an air heating system is represented. The design is based on the K-S curves, which hav...

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In this paper, generalized predictive control based on particle swarm optimization (PSO-GPC) was applied to the control of linear Fresnel distributed collector system, of which the purpose was to reduce the system error in the dynamic process. The main goal of solar thermal power generation system control was to control the collector outlet temperature in a certain range. Using the the rate of ...

A forced convection solar drier is designed with evacuated tube collector and a blower. The performance of the designed drier is evaluated by carrying drying experiments at Thanjavur District, Tamilnadu, India with amla. Solar drying of amla is carried at different air velocity flow rates – 4m/s, 4.25m/s and 4.5m/s and is compared with natural sun drying. The temperature of the drying chamber r...

Aim of this work is the design of a programmable electronic system for monitoring the environmental parameters and managing the electrical functions of a thermo-solar plant. The designed control unit detects data from temperature and light sensors, processes acquired information and commands external equipments (pumps, electric valves and power supplies) in order to optimize plant performances ...

To develop the organic Rankine-vapor compression ice maker driven by solar energy, a thermodynamic model was developed and the effects of generation temperature, condensation temperature, and working fluid types on the system performance were analyzed. The results show that the cooling power per square meter collector and ice production per square meter collector per day depend largely on gener...

The best operation strategies for open loop flat-plate solar collector systems are considered. A direct optimal control method (the TOMP algorithm) is implemented. A detailed collector model and realistic meteorological data from both cold and warm seasons are used in applications. The maximum exergetic efficiency is low (usually less than 3%), in good agreement with experimental measurements r...

This article presents the latest experimental results of the European DISS (DIrect Solar Steam) project. The experiments are subdivided into steady state and transient tests. The goal of the steady state tests is the investigation of the thermohydraulic phenomena of the occurring two phase flow, whereas the transient tests are needed for the controller design. The experimental results are compa...

The current study presents the concept of a stand-alone solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC) water pumping system for rural Nepalese areas. Experimental results for this technology are presented based on a prototype. The economic viability of the system was assessed based on solar radiation data of different Nepalese geographic locations. The mechanical power produced by the solar ORC is coupled w...

This paper describes the application of a non-linear adaptive constrained model-based predictive control scheme to the distributed collector field of a solar power plant at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (Spain). This methodology exploits the intrinsic non-linear modelling capabilities of nonlinear state-space neural networks and their online training by means of an unscented Kalman filter. Te...