**6. Conclusions**

The purpose of this study was to realize the automation of the solar energy conversion unit with respect to the system having a Stirling engine, electric generator, and secondary heat exchanger, which provides the electrical and thermal energy produced by the Stirling engine solar concentrator.

This automation aims to solve the starting sequences, the functioning in safe conditions, monitoring of the parameters during operation, protecting it, and safely stopping it.

These objectives have been met, however, depending on the behavior of the installation over time, they will be improved and completed as a result of the process of optimizing the functioning of the automation. By using an auxiliary source that supplies 16 kW, the functioning of the engine was obtained and control and security was ensured throughout the operation of the Stirling engine.

Since the integration and promotion of renewable energy sources is in continual growth, this attracted our attention to the use of a solar concentrator with a Stirling engine.

The advantages of automating the Stirling solar concentrator consist of:


The next steps will be to improve the security protocols in operation, as well as their succession.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, D.-A.M., V.B., and I.M.; methodology, D.-A.M., C.B., and I.S, .; software, D.-A.M., C.B., and I.M.; validation, V.B., M.S.R., and E.C.; formal analysis, D.-A.M. and C.B.; investigation, D.-A.M. and V.B.; resources, D.-A.M., C.B., and I.S, .; data curation, V.B. and I.M.; writing—original draft preparation, D.-A.M.; writing—review and editing, M.S.R. and I.M.; visualization, D.-A.M., C.B., and I.S, .; supervision, V.B., M.S.R., E.C., and I.M.; project administration, V.B.; funding acquisition, D.-A.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** This work was supported by a grant from the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, CCCDI-UEFISCDI, project numbers PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0776/No. 36 and PCCDI/15.03.2018, within PNCDI III. This work was carried out through the Nucleus Program, financed by the Ministry of Education and Research, project number PN 19 11 02 02.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
