Institute of Environmentology, Research and Education for Sustainability or Sustainable Development, Kazutoshi Fujihira
Research on Designing Control Systems
Institute of Environmentology >> Research on Designing Control Systems
Control systems require designing and implementing control measures, or measures for achieving the control objective. The procedure in which control measures are designed and implemented is called the "design of a control system." The Institute of Environmentology has been conducting research on the design of practical control systems for sustainable development, on the basis of the basic control system for sustainable development.
Two-step method for smooth control system design
We have devised a "method for smooth control system design," an important product of our research on designing practical control systems for sustainable development. This method consists of two steps: (1) determining the relationship between the standard human activities and sustainable development, (2) sustainability checkup on human activities as an object.
Fig. 1 demonstrates the concept of the first step, namely determining the relationship between the standard human activities and sustainable development. The standard human activities mean typical human activities among human activities which belong to one group and the same unit. In the first step, system designers first select important elements from the standard human activities. Next, considering the relationship between each element and the conditions for stability such as health, safety and environmental preservation, system designers identify variables which can indicate the degree of stability. After that, they set the desired values of the variables that can achieve stability.
In the second step, system designers conduct a sustainability checkup on human activities as an object. To be concrete, they first measure or estimate the aforementioned variables of human activities as an object. Next, they compare the measured or estimated values with the desired values and assess the degree of stability.
After the assessment, the variables that are lower than the desired values need to be identified as "controlled variables." In addition, human activities as an object which include one or more controlled variables are naturally identified as a "controlled object." Therefore, this two-step method is expected to smoothly identify necessary components of practical control systems for sustainable development, that is, a controlled object, controlled variables, and their desired values.
Related publications
Sustainable Home Design by Applying Control Science
Written by Fujihira, K., InTech, December 2017
Chapter 3 Basic Schemes: Preparations for Applying Control Science to Sustainable Design