Robust Nonlinear Predictive Control Applied to a Solar Collector Field in a Solar Desalination Plant

This brief presents the application of a robust nonlinear predictive controller to the distributed collector field of a solar desalination plant. The main purpose of the controller is to manipulate the water flow rate to maintain the collector outlet-inlet temperature gradient constant in spite of disturbances. The controller uses a robust dead-time compensation structure and a nonlinear model predictive control to cope with time delay uncertainties and system nonlinearities, respectively. Simulation and real experimental results are shown to illustrate controller performance.