Object-oriented modelling and simulation of ACUREX solar thermal power plant

Research and development of advanced control systems to optimize the overall performance of parabolic trough collector (PTC) solar power plants is a priority line of research at the CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas - Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology). These developments are underway at the CIEMAT's Plataforma Solar de Almera (PSA), a highly specialized solar energy technology research centre. Some dynamic models for use in simulation and control of this type of solar power plant, developed in the PSA ACUREX facility, are presented in this article. The models developed are based on the ThermoFluid thermohydraulic modelling framework, in the Modelica modelling language. The ACUREX facility is presented with the main components modelled and their respective modelling assumptions. An operation strategy is presented and modelled based on the StateGraph Modelica library for discrete and reactive system modelling. A typical experiment is simulated with real experimental input data, a discrete operating strategy is designed and predicted model data are presented and discussed.

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