Abstract
An optimal control procedure is presented for minimising the sun tracking error of solar concentrators. The sun tracking system is a point-focusing collector which is subject to wind disturbance. The optimal control law considered herein is a proportional plus integral control, and the following two feedback schemes are used for the controller implementation: 1. state estimation via an observer; and 2. suboptimal control The observer is constructed to estimate the unmeasurable tracking error variables and designed optimally to minimise the deviation of estimated errors from actual error values. The suboptimal control, on the other hand, uses only the output variables available from sensor. Investigation of the comparative performances of the two schemes indicates that sub-optimal control is only marginally inferior and could therefore provide a satisfactory and cost-effective solution under the conditions assumed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.