Multi-model adaptive predictive control of superheated steam temperature of DSG solar parabolic-trough collector based on heat-steam ratio and its reference trajectory

Abstract

The direct steam generation (DSG) solar thermal power generation system has obvious inertia and nonlinearity in the response of superheated steam temperature. Due to the intermittent and random fluctuations of solar irradiation, the DSG system frequently undergoes large changes in operating conditions, which results in a very complicated problem of controlling the superheated steam temperature at the collector outlet. This paper proposed a multi-model adaptive control scheme based on the heat-steam ratio and its reference trajectory for the control problem of the outlet steam temperature of the DSG solar parabolic-trough collector. Firstly, through analyzing the dynamic characteristics of the superheated steam temperature, the main factors and the main nonlinear characteristics that lead to the nonlinearity of the steam temperature response are revealed. Secondly, taking the ratio of solar irradiation to the outlet steam flow (heat-steam ratio) as the characteristic parameter based on the nonlinear characteristics of the system, the DSG collector system is divided into several linearized subspaces, and then the corresponding steam temperature predictive sub-model set and steam temperature adaptive predictive control scheme are established. Finally, a smooth switching strategy based on the reference trajectory of the nonlinear characteristic parameter (heat-steam ratio) is established in response to the frequent or large switching of the controller caused by the large changes in the operating conditions, which effectively improved the stability of the temperature control process of the superheated steam at the DSG collector outlet. In this paper, the effectiveness of the above-mentioned control scheme has been preliminarily verified through simulation experiments.