Elemental technologies (TCBM/RSM-S)Elemental technologies (TCBM/RSM-S)
At Yamatake we are developing elemental technologies to facilitate automation using computers to process measurement data. Conventionally, automation duplicates human faculties using hardware Esensors (to comprehend) and controllers (to think and act). However, with advances in computers, it has now become possible to acquire information of such quantity and diversity as would have been unimaginable previously. This mountain of information contains data pertaining to various processes as well as the knowledge of people who work with those processes. By running this information through computers we can duplicate human faculties, support human activities, and even replace human beings. Yamatake sees all of these as a form of automation and our researchers are developing elemental technologies for their realization. Yamatake researchers are working on a number of R&D projects related to those human faculties of particular relevance to automation: hearing comprehension (to listen and thus be aware of changes); prediction/estimation of phenomena under complex conditions (to conjecture); determination of optimum conditions through assumptions derived from limited information (to ascertain optimum conditions); determination of the relationship between phenomena from observations (to analyze order and causal relationships); and discrimination ( to determine whether a situation is good or bad). Yamatake is finding ways to apply this research to its businesses, particularly its serially developed prediction/estimation technologies Edata mining, TCBM (Topological Case-Based Modeling) Eand its technology for determining optimum conditions Ethe RSM-S spline response surface methodology. These are expected to lead to new branches of research. Our principal application of these technologies at present is to our urban disaster prevention business (sewer system solutions) run by our Environmental Business Development Center, and to energy solutions in the building systems field.- Urban disaster prevention, sewer systems
Yamatake is taking a twofold approach to finding solutions for sewer system related problems: one is our sewer system inflow prediction service, and the other is our rainwater infiltration point investigation service.
(1)Sewer system inflow prediction service
Up-to-date meteorological information (rainfall data/forecasts) and reports from wastewater treatment and collection facilities are used to generate a model that predicts sewer system inflow up to 22 hours in advance, and this is then broadcast on the Internet (Figure 1). This information can play a critical role in ensuring that treatment facilities maintain effluent water quality standards by taking pre-emptive measures to prevent overflows in combined sewer systems. And by enabling a rapid response to heavy rainfall, it also helps to reduce electrical power consumption. This represents a tremendous advantage compared to what was previously possible, when managers had only weather reports to rely on.
This service is made possible by the prediction/estimation technology developed by Yamatake's R&D Headquarters. It has been approved by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; in fact, it is the first time that software has been awarded a construction technology inspection certificate by the Ministry (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Web delivery of sewer system inflow information
Figure 2: Construction technology inspection certificate
(2)Rainwater infiltration point investigation service
Applying Yamatake's prediction/estimation technology to rainfall data for the area served by a wastewater treatment and collection facility, this service predicts the increased volume of water resulting from rainwater inflow. Data pattern matching enables the estimation (investigation) of where there is damage to the sewer pipes running underground (Figure 3).
Compared with conventional methods of detecting and repairing broken sewer pipes, this investigation service offers huge savings. It also clarifies the priority that should be assigned to repair locations, and following pipe repairs it provides an idea of how effective they have been.
Figure 3: Map of rainwater infiltration points
This service makes use of rainfall and rainwater infiltration pattern matching technologies developed by Yamatake, and also interpolation techniques that can generate models of entire systems from a limited amount of information using techniques for the determination of optimum conditions.
- Building systems, energy solutions
For the building systems business, as a means of saving energy in existing buildings, Yamatake supplies solutions that include upgrading equipment and operational procedures.
Applying technology developed by Yamatake, instrumentation data derived from building systems can be used to calculate the effects of upgrading (estimation of energy and cost savings following the upgrading of equipment and operational procedures), and also to calculate the effects of upgrading (calculation of the energy and cost savings following upgrading).
One problem with calculating the effects of upgrading was the fact that when outside air conditions change, as in the heat of midsummer, energy consumption naturally rises, and this means that even if measures are taken to reduce consumption, it is difficult to demonstrate the effect of those measures. What we have done to solve this problem is to use our prediction/estimation technology to create a model from data gathered prior to the adoption of energy-saving measures; this model demonstrates the relationship between energy usage and outdoor air conditions. It makes it possible to accurately grasp the effects of upgrading by calculating the difference between post-upgrade energy usage (calculated from the model) and actual energy usage figures for identical outdoor air conditions (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Comparison of building energy consumption before and after energy-saving measures were adopted
<<Measurement data processing
