An IoT based Control System for a Solar Membrane Distillation Plant used for Greenhouse Irrigation*

Abstract

This paper presents a control strategy that uses the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to manage a smart-grid framework including a solar desalination facility and a group of greenhouses that demand water for irrigation. In addition, the water public utility network has also been considered an agent of this smart-grid framework. The controller is based on a Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy which uses information, by means of an IoT platform, coming from each one of the facilities included in the smart-grid to calculate the optimal control actions in the Cloud. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.