| Abstract: | A thermal-hydraulic model of a once-through subcritical steam generator has been developed for predicting dynamic characteristics of solar thermal power plants as well as for control system design. The purpose of the model is to evaluate the overall system performance and component interaction with sufficient accuracy for controller design, rather than to describe the microscopic details occurring within the steam generator.The three-section (compressed water, two-phase mixture, and superheated steam) model with time-varying phase boundaries is described by a set of nonlinear differential equations derived from conservation of mass, momentum and energy. Local stability of the model has been examined at different levels of insolation. Transient response of six plant variables due to independent step disturbances in three input variables are presented as typical results. |
