Design, dynamic analysis and control-based exergetic optimization for solar-driven Kalina power plant

Achieving a system with the maximum efficiency and minimum settling time to output power variations is considered as one of the main problems in designing and optimizing the power-generation systems. Thus, the present study aimed to present a new method for designing and optimizing the linear parabolic solar collector powered Kalina power plant, in which the concepts of power control and efficiency are considered simultaneously. The control system was designed for the solar collectors to control the output temperature of a solar collector by using the extracted transfer functions efficiently, and these functions were used for analyzing the solar collector dynamically and determining the unit's time response. Accordingly, exergy-control analysis was used to evaluate the effect of design and operation variables on exegetic efficiency and settling time. Then, the optimization procedure was performed to achieve a system with maximum efficiency and minimum settling time to power changes. In fact, the response time of the system was minimized and the efficiency was maximized by eliminating input disturbances to the coupled solar system and controls the heat-transfer fluid (HTF) temperature. These improvements could reduce operating time and system costs. Optimization results indicated an excellent improvement in objective functions. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.