System and method for thermo-mechanical monitoring of a solar receiver

A concentrated solar power (CSP) plant comprising a plurality of heliostats or heliostat field, a substantially cylindrical solar energy receiver (3), preferably a molten salt solar receiver (MSSR), located atop a central tower (1) and having an external surface covered with receiver panels (30) and a heat shield (2) adjacent the solar receiver (3), the heliostats reflecting solar energy to said external surface of the receiver (3), each receiver panel (30) comprising a plurality of heat exchanger tubes (6) for transporting a heat transfer fluid, which are partly exposed on the external surface of the receiver and comprising a thermo- mechanical monitoring system to ensure the integrity of the solar receiver panel tubes in operation, said thermomechanical monitoring system comprising a data processing system for calculating and/or supplying respectively the maximum temperature, temperature profile and/or absorbed power profile in each heat exchanger tube (6) and theoretical mechanical strains assigned to each heat exchanger tube (6) as a function of the temperature provided by the imaging devices (7, 7A, 7B, etc.), in order to control if the operating point of an area located on the solar receiver (3) is within an operating envelope (16) in the 2D-space theoretical strain/T