Identification of Solar Energy Systems

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to value the parameters on systems using solar energy by a process model. In particular a solar circuit is here examined comprising a flat-plate single glass collector, a boiler and a heat exchanger. First a distributed non-linear 5th order state space model derived from basic physical equations, representing the a priori inrormation, is analyzed in a simulation algorithm. This modelbuilding is assumed as the standard with which reduced and approximate models are obtained. An experimental plant realized in sicily is used for identification. The applied method is the one of generalized least squares for the low noise levels obtained, and the estimated model has lumped time-invariant parameters with prefixed structure in discrete-time form. The results obtained give useful information on the physical considerations and circuit efficiency.