A review of the application of modern control theory to solar energy systems

In this paper we review some applications of modern control theory to the problem of solar energy temperature control, that have been reported in the literature. We review briefly classical temperature control and some of the basic model components required for solar systems. Then a number of optimization techniques proposed in the literature for solar systems including linear-quadratic optimization, optimal on-off control, singular control, periodic optimization, optimal-adaptive control, and stochastic optimization are discussed. Finally some comments are included on the realization of controllers using microprocessors.