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Watanabe Lab
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The lab makes real-world systems move as intended through model-based methods.
AboutAbout the lab
Making systems move as intended, through mathematics.
The Watanabe Lab studies control: making real-world systems such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, and manufacturing equipment move as intended, using computers and electronic devices.
Control is one of the foundational technologies supporting modern society and daily life. It is highly versatile and is applied in a wide range of fields.
The lab works on mathematical modeling that enables "good control," on developing model-based control methods, and on applying them to real-world systems.
Control engineering is often thought of as a mathematical field that deals only with mechanical and electrical systems, but the professor writes that this is not the whole picture.
Key terms
- Modeling
- Expressing how a target behaves in the form of mathematical equations so that it can be predicted through calculation
- Model-based control
- An approach to control that uses a constructed model to decide how to operate a system to achieve the desired behavior
- Compartmental model
- A model that divides a target into several compartments and represents the change of the whole through exchanges between the compartments
ResearchResearch themes
The lab works on modeling the controlled system, developing model-based control methods, and applying them to real-world systems, all of which are needed to achieve "good control." Because control engineering is highly versatile, the control problems the lab has dealt with so far span a wide range.
*Illustrative imageAir-conditioning control for electric vehicles
An electric vehicle's air conditioning runs on the on-board battery, so in summer and winter a considerable share of the battery capacity goes to air conditioning, which directly affects driving range. The lab combines a model of the temperature distribution in the cabin with a model of the temperature distribution in the human body to develop control methods that reduce power consumption while maintaining comfort.
*Illustrative imageModeling and control of rolling and cooling in steelmaking
Continuous rolling of steel sheets and the cooling that follows are key production processes that determine the properties of the product. Conventional models focus on reproducing the phenomena precisely, which makes them poorly suited to control system design. The lab works on representing the changes in thickness and temperature over time as compartmental models, which are highly compatible with control system design.
*Illustrative imageThrust control of jet engines
To run a jet engine stably, it is necessary to manipulate the fuel flow rate and the exhaust nozzle area while satisfying many constraints on internal states such as temperature and pressure. Simulation models that work over a wide operating range are too complex to be used directly for design, so the lab works on modeling that suits control system design, and on designing thrust control systems based on it.
*Illustrative imageEconomic evaluation of electric vehicles using battery models
Electric vehicles are being introduced to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but because of their high purchase price and the need to replace the battery, their economic advantage over gasoline vehicles is unclear. The lab aims to evaluate their economic performance objectively through long-term simulations using battery models that reproduce degradation.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Watanabe Lab consist of faculty and students in the master's and undergraduate programs.
- ProfessorRyo Watanabe
VoicesStudent voices
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Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Watanabe Lab
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Fliehkraftregler” Mirko Junge / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Air-conditioning control for electric vehicles: “Incense stick” AntanO / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Modeling and control of rolling and cooling in steelmaking: “"Hot" Rolling Some Steel ( )” Erik Charlton from Menlo Park, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Thrust control of jet engines: “Detail of GEnx turbofan engine core” Olivier Cleynen / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Economic evaluation of electric vehicles using battery models: “Soroban ( )” __U___ / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Wasa Lab): “Kilobot robot swarm” asuscreative / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Makimoto Lab): “Molecular Beam Epitaxy System” SJMW1987 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sota Lab): “Dispersive Prism Illustration by Spigget” Spigget / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Wakao Lab): “Detailed view of a cutaway electric motor showing inner components” Shixart1985 / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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