Optimal Periodic Control of a Bilinear Solar System

This paper discusses the design of a solar heating system using periodic optimization techniques. The disturbance signals, ambient temperature and solar insolation, are assumed to be periodic with a period of 24 hours. A bilinear system is used to model the solar plant. It is assumed that the system response is periodic and a performance measure is selected which takes the time average over one period of a weighted combination of control effort and temperature deviation from a set point (comfort factor). Conditions are given to insure the existence of a periodic solution for the bilinear system for a given control law. Numerical results are compared with a conventional on-off control system.