CATION: Control flux system for central solAr fuel Tower plants using artificial Intelligent and ad-hoc Optic sensors.

The main objective of CATION is to solve one of the technical challenges related to the development of concentrating solar technologies towards their use in thermochemical applications such as solar fuels and chemical. It focuses on the development of an efficient solar control system to focus the heliostats of the solar field to the receiver by the use of innovative ad-hoc optical sensors and artificial intelligent. The goal is to control the solar field optimally and safely in plants where high temperature and flux at the receiver needs stability along the time. Nowadays, to the best of our knowledge, does not exist an accurate and reliable system to control that. Furthermore, the need to have stable ultra-high irradiance at the receiver makes the challenge greater. It is expected that the project will lead to results with high impact on new knowledge and technical solutions for the aiming strategy real time.

In this project, CENER plays a central role as project coordinator and developer. CENER will develop the control system for solar fuel plants to guarantee a stable solar flux distribution in the reactor by an efficient aiming point strategy using artificial intelligent techniques and an innovative characterization system of the solar field.