2025/04/02 by Ruiz-Moreno, Sara, Gallego, Antonio J., Macías, Manuel +1
#Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Electrical engineering #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.01652
This paper presents a novel method to optimize thermal balance in parabolic trough collector (PTC) plants. It uses a market-based system to distribute flow among loops combined with an artificial neural network (ANN) to reduce computation and data requirements. This auction-based approach balances loop temperatures, accommodating varying thermal losses and collector efficiencies. Validation across different thermal losses, optical efficiencies, and irradiance conditions-sunny, partially cloudy, and cloudy-show improved thermal power output and intercept factors compared to a no-allocation system. It demonstrates scalability and practicality for large solar thermal plants, enhancing overall performance. The method was first validated through simulations on a realistic solar plant model, then adapted and successfully tested in a 50 MW solar trough plant, demonstrating its advantages. Furthermore, the algorithms have been implemented, commissioned, and are currently operating in 13 commercial solar trough plants.