Collaborative distributed sun-tracking control system for building integration with minimal plant area and maximum energy-conversion efficiency

• This paper presents a collaborative distributed sun-tracking control system for a novel Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (FMSC) structure, which increases the energy-conversion efficiency of the FMSC and reduces the space between solar collectors units, a positive aspect for in-building integration. The improved FMSC uses solar concentration collectors suited for mid-range thermal applications (90-200 °C) and is designed for easy installation in buildings because of its relatively small extension. The proposed solar orientation system (ORSYS) relies on a two-step algorithm to increase the energy captured by the receiver, which provides tolerance to common logical and mechanical errors in the estimation of the receiver position. ORSYS is implemented as a CAN-based distributed system, extended with web-interface features for supervision and configuration of the overall system. ORSYS also includes a coordination algorithm that allows adjacent collectors to share the physical space between them, thus reducing the total plant area. Experimental evaluation has been performed using an industrial-scale solar collector prototype, showing its feasibility and efficiency in terms of energy conversion in real environments.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Distributed control systems

Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator

Medium range temperature

Sun-tracking control

Concentration (process)

Control systems

Conversion efficiency

Distributed parameter control systems

Energy conversion

Energy efficiency

Mirrors

Navigation

Solar collectors

Solar concentrators

Building integration

Coordination algorithms

Experimental evaluation

Medium range

Solar concentration

Sun-tracking

Thermal applications

Two-step algorithms

Collector efficiency

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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