Control Optimization through Simulations of Large Scale Solar Plants for Industrial Heat Applications

Abstract

The European FP7 Project InSun; which started in April 2012; aims to demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of three different collector technologies suitable for heat production employed in diverse industrial processes in different climatic regions. These collectors are installed and will be monitored in detail over a period of almost two years. One of the plants is installed at Fleischwaren Berger GmbH located in Sieghartskirchen, Austria, a company which produces meat and sausage products. The second solar plant is installed at the company Laterizi Gambettola SRL (SOLTIGUA) located in Gambettola, Italy, which produces highly insulating hollow brick blocks for external walls of buildings. The control optimization and commissioning of the two solar plants has been carried out as a part of the InSun project. Considering measurements and results of simulations developed with dynamic models, potential improvements of the low-level control algorithms are presented for the two solar plants.

Benefits of Medium Temperature Solar Concentration Technologies as Thermal Energy Source of Industrial Processes in Spain

“…As consequence of the positive results of these studies and of the expectation created in the industrial sector there are a huge number of specific applications that are in the development process to achieve that solar energy technologies cover the industrial process thermal requirements [22]. There are also several reports that analyse, regardless the country, the solar technologies possibilities as thermal energy supplier for industrial processes, from the oil industry to the paper, textile or pharmaceutical industry [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Evangelos et al [30] compare and evaluate energetically, exergetically and financially the performance of PTC and LFC for the climate conditions of Athens (Greece) for electricity and heat production.…”

Process Heat Generation Potential from Solar Concentration Technologies in Latin America: The Case of Argentina

“…As shown solar heat for industrial processes has been identified repeatedly as an important market for solar thermal applications as the industrial heat demand, proof of that are the numerous emergent applications [20]. Several reports have thoroughly analyzed the contributions of solar energy in meeting the energy requirements of several kind of industries, from the oil industry to the paper, textile or pharmaceutical industry [21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Numerical Simulation of Energy Systems to Control Environment Microclimate

“…[4]. For example, these models can be used to optimize the smart energy grids and reduce the energy consumption [5], to manage large scale solar plants for industrial applications [6] or to analyze energy consumption of buildings under different climatic conditions as given in Ref. [7].…”

“…In Ref. [6], the authors have developed a model in order to simulate solar plants for industrial heat applications. Such a model provides an energy consumption monitoring of the industrial plants and an optimization of the energy performance of the entire system.…”