Automated Supervisory Control Logic for the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v4i.3002Keywords:
Automation, Supervisory Control, Plant OperationsAbstract
The successful operation of solar thermal plants requires a distributed control system (DCS) that is built with a combination of controls expertise and input from subject matter experts to define requirements that the control system must satisfy. This work describes the distributed control system for the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant (G3P3) at Sandia National Laboratories and the procedure used to design and achieve the associated control requirements. Automation and supervisory control logic plays an integral role in the G3P3 DCS due to the high number of controllable components and feedback signals that indicate the systems state-of-health at any moment. The implementation and testing of these key components will be shown and discussed in detail in this work.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Kaden Plewe, Luis Garcia Maldonado, Jeremy Sment

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2026-05-27
Published 2026-07-03
Funding data
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Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant numbers 34211