Optimal control of the temperature in a solar furnace

This article describes the application of optimal control to a solar furnace that is used to perform temperature stress cycling tests in material samples. This process is characterized by having nonlinearities that depend on the sample properties and relate the temperature of the sample with the solar energy fluctuations and the position of the furnace shutter. An optimal control problem with fix terminal time and free terminal state and control constraints is addressed in continuous time domain. The solution is approximated using discretized state and costate equations and applied to the furnace according to a receding horizon strategy. The performance of the overall system is evaluated from computer simulations which show that the controller is able to tolerate, up to some degree, the presence of parameter uncertainty.