Time Delay Analysis of the Parabolic Trough Collector with Linear Model Predictive Control

Achieving optimal electrical output from a solar thermal power plant (STP) requires maximizing heat gain from parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) and maintaining the desired setpoint for peak efficiency. This process, however, is challenged by disturbances such as cloud cover, dust accumulation, and uneven solar radiation, which can reduce efficiency and make it difficult to consistently maintain the desired setpoint of PTC oil outlet temperature. To address these complexities, this chapter presents the design of a linear model predictive controller (LMPC) with an innovation bias approach for regulating the oil outlet temperature of a PTC system by adjusting the oil mass flow rate. The key innovation of this work is integrating sensor transmitter time delay to study its impact on temperature measurements in the PTC process and assess how LMPC responds to these delays. A detailed case study is presented to validate the performance of the system and demonstrate the effect of time delay in the process on the behavior of controller. Also, power spectral density (PSD) analysis is performed along with different performance criteria for the case study for a more detailed analysis.