Concentrated solar power (CSP) is an efficient means of renewable energy that makes use of solar radiation to produce electricity instead of making use of conventional fossil fuel techniques such as burning coal. The aim of this study is the simulation and characterisation of a CSP plant in order to gain a better understanding of the dominant plant dynamics. Due to the nature of the study, the dissertation is divided into two main parts namely the simulation of a CSP plant model and the characterisation of the plant model. Modelling the CSP plant takes the form of developing an accurate Flownex® model of a 40 MW combined cycle CSP plant. The model includes thermal energy storage as well as making use of a duct burner. The Flownex® model is based on an existing TRNSYS model of the same plant. The Flownex® model is verified and validated, by making use of a bottom-up approach, to ensure that the developed model is in fact correct. The characterisation part of this dissertation involves evaluating the dynamic responses unique to that of a CSP plant as stated in the literature. This involves evaluating the dominant dynamic behaviour, the presence of resonant and anti-resonant modes found within the control bandwidth, and the change in the dynamics of the plant as the plants’ operating points change throughout the day. Once the developed model is validated, characterisation in the form of evaluating the open loop local linear models of the plant is implemented. In order to do so, these models are developed based on model identification processes, which include the use of system identification software such as Matlab® SID Toolbox®. The dominant dynamic behaviour of the plant model, obtained from the developed local linear models, represents that of an over damped second order system that changes as the operating points of the plant change; with the models’ time responses and the bandwidth decreasing and increasing respectively as the thermal energy inputs to the plant increases. The frequency response of the developed local linear models also illustrates the presence of resonant and antiresonant modes found within the control bandwidth of the solar collector field’s temperature response. These modes however are not found to be present in the mechanical power output response of the plant. The use of adaptive control, such as feedforward and gain-scheduled controllers, for the plant should be developed to compensate for the dynamic behaviours associated with that of a CSP plant. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is an efficient means of renewable energy that makes use of solar radiation to produce electricity instead of making use of conventional fossil fuel techniques such as burning coal. The aim of this study is the simulation and characterisation of a CSP plant in order to gain a better understanding of the dominant plant dynamics. Due to the nature of the study, the dissertation is divided into two main parts namely the simulation of a CSP plant model and the characterisation of the plant model. Modelling the CSP plant takes the form of developing an accurate Flownex® model of a 40 MW combined cycle CSP plant. The model includes thermal energy storage as well as making use of a duct burner. The Flownex® model is based on an existing TRNSYS model of the same plant. The Flownex® model is verified and validated, by making use of a bottom-up approach, to ensure that the developed model is in fact correct. The characterisation part of this dissertation involves evaluating the dynamic responses unique to that of a CSP plant as stated in the literature. This involves evaluating the dominant dynamic behaviour, the presence of resonant and anti-resonant modes found within the control bandwidth, and the change in the dynamics of the plant as the plants’ operating points change throughout the day. Once the developed model is validated, characterisation in the form of evaluating the open loop local linear models of the plant is implemented. In order to do so, these models are developed based on model identification processes, which include the use of system identification software such as Matlab® SID Toolbox®. The dominant dynamic behaviour of the plant model, obtained from the developed local linear models, represents that of an over damped second order system that changes as the operating points of the plant change; with the models’ time responses and the bandwidth decreasing and increasing respectively as the thermal energy inputs to the plant increases. The frequency response of the developed local linear models also illustrates the presence of resonant and antiresonant modes found within the control bandwidth of the solar collector field’s temperature response. These modes however are not found to be present in the mechanical power output response of the plant. The use of adaptive control, such as feedforward and gain-scheduled controllers, for the plant should be developed to compensate for the dynamic behaviours associated with that of a CSP plant. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

nÃo hà / In this dissertation it is reported the results of a comprehensive comparative study involving six local models applied to the task of learning the inverse kinematics of three redundant robotic arm (planar, PUMA 560 and Motoman HP6). The evaluated algorithms are the following ones: radial basis functions network (RBFN), local model network (LMN), SOMbased local linear mapping (LLM), local linear mapping over k-winners (K-SOM), local weighted regression (LWR) and counter propagation (CP). Each algorithm is evaluated with respect to its accuracy in estimating the joint angles given the cartesian coordinates which comprise end-effector trajectories within the robot workspace. A comprehensive evaluation of the performances of the aforementioned algorithms is carried out based on correlation analysis of the residuals. Finally, hypothesis testing procedures are also executed in order to verifying if there are significant differences in performance among the best algorithms. / Nesta dissertaÃÃo sÃo reportados os resultados de um amplo estudo comparativo envolvendo seis modelos locais aplicados à tarefa de aproximaÃÃo do modelo cinemÃtico inverso de 3 robÃs manipuladores (planar, PUMA 560 e Motoman HP6). Os modelos avaliados sÃo os seguintes: rede de funÃÃes de base radial (RBFN), rede de modelos locais (LMN), mapeamento linear local baseado em SOM (LLM), mapeamento linear local usando K vencedores (KSOM), regressÃo local ponderada (LWR) e rede counterpropagation (CP). Estes algoritmos sÃo avaliados quanto à acurÃcia na estimaÃÃo dos Ãngulos das juntas dos robÃs manipuladores em experimentos envolvendo a geraÃÃo de vÃrios tipos de trajetÃrias no espaÃo de trabalho dos referidos robÃs. Uma avaliaÃÃo abrangente do desempenho de cada algoritmo à feita com base na anÃlise dos resÃduos e testes de hipÃteses sÃo realizados para verificar a semelhanÃa estatistica entre os desempenhos dos melhores algoritmos.

nÃo hà / Nesta tese aborda-se o problema de identificaÃÃo de sistemas dinÃmicos sobre a Ãtica dos modelos locais, em que o espaÃo de entrada à particionado em regiÃes de operaÃÃo menores sobre as quais sÃo construÃdos modelos de menor complexidade (em geral, lineares). Este tipo de modelo à uma alternativa aos chamados modelos globais em que a dinÃmica do sistema à identificada usando-se uma Ãnica estrutura (em geral, nÃo-linear) que cobre todo o espaÃo de entrada. Assim, o tema alvo desta tese à o projeto de modelos lineares locais cujo espaÃo de entrada à particionado por meio do uso de algoritmos de quantizaÃÃo vetorial, principalmente aqueles baseados em redes neurais competitivas. Para este fim, sÃo propostos trÃs novos modelos lineares locais baseados na rede SOM (self-organizing map), que sÃo avaliados na tarefa de identificaÃÃo do modelo inverso de quatro sistemas dinÃmicos comumente usados na literatura em benchmarks de desempenhos. Os modelos propostos sÃo tambÃm comparados com modelos globais baseados nas redes MLP (multilayer perceptron) e ELM (extreme learning machines), bem como com outros modelos lineares locais, tais como o modelo fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno e o modelo neural LLM (local linear mapping). Um amplo estudo à realizado visando comparar os desempenhos de todos os modelos supracitados segundo trÃs critÃrios de avaliaÃÃo, a saber: (i) erro mÃdio quadrÃtico normalizado, (ii) anÃlise dos resÃduos, e (iii) teste estatÃstico de Kolmogorov-Smirnov. De particular interesse para esta tese, à a avaliaÃÃo da robustez dos modelos locais propostos com relaÃÃo ao algoritmo de quantizaÃÃo vetorial usado no treinamento do modelo. Os resultados obtidos indicam que os desempenhos dos modelos locais propostos sÃo superiores aos dos modelos globais baseados na rede MLP e equivalentes aos modelos globais baseados na rede ELM. / In this thesis the problem of nonlinear system identification is approached from the viewpoint of local models. The input space is partitioned into smaller operational regions with lower complexity models (usually linear) built for each one. This type of model is an alternative to global models, for which the system dynamics is identified using a single structure (usually nonlinear ones) that covers the whole input space. The aim of this thesis is to design of local linear models whose input space is partitioned by means of vector quantization algorithms, special those based on competitive learning neural networks. For this purpose, three novel local linear modeling methods based on the SOM (self-organizing map) are introduced and evaluated on the identification of the inverse model of four dynamical systems commonly used in the literature for performance benchmarking. The proposed models are also compared with global models based on the MLP (multilayer perceptron) and ELM (extreme learning machines), as well as with alternative local linear models, such as the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model and the LLM(local linear mapping) neural model. A comprehensive study is carried out to compare the performances of all the aforementioned models according to three evaluation criteria, namely: (i) normalized mean squared error, (ii) residual analysis, and (iii) Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Of particular interest to this thesis is the evaluation of the robustness of the proposed local models with respect to the vector quantization algorithm used to train the model. The obtained results indicates that the performance of the proposed local models are superior to those achieved by the MLP-based global models and equivalent to those achieved by ELM-based global models.