PI+CI compensation with variable reset: Application on solar collector fields

This work approaches the problem of robust control for distributed collector fields. The goal is to investigate the potentials of a nonlinear/hybrid compensator previously developed by some of the authors, referred to as the PI+CI compensator, in the control of a system with significant uncertainty. To this end, the design of PI+CI has been made in two steps: first, a base robust PI compensator is designed by using QFT (quantitative feedback theory) to satisfy (robust) relative stability and tracking specifications, and then a reset percentage of the integral term is chosen in order to improve the transitory response. In addition, a simple modification of the PI+CI compensator, consisting of the variation of the reset percentage at each reset time, is investigated regarding the improvement of the previous design.