Patent ID: 8671932

Claim:
Method of operating a solar thermal power plant, comprising: evaporating a liquid heat transfer medium endothermally by solar radiation in an evaporator section, said evaporator section comprising a plurality of evaporator branches, among which the heat transfer medium is distributed; controlling a mass flow distribution at the evaporator section; and adjusting the mass flows individually at all or a majority of the evaporator branches using a corresponding controlled variable for each of the respective evaporator branches to be controlled such that a vapor content at respective exits of all or a majority of the evaporator branches is identical, wherein: the corresponding controlled variable is a variable characterizing a spatial energy rise in the respective evaporator branch in a region of the respective evaporator branch where the liquid heat transfer medium has not yet evaporated; and the vapor content at the respective exits of the evaporator branches is controlled without directly measuring the vapor content.