(441c) Tactical Sustainability Control of Industrial Systems

From the sustainability science point of view, industrial sustainable development is a multi-objective dynamic control problem. It requires continuous sustainability assessment and decision analysis in order to derive best possible sustainability actions for implementation in order to achieve sustainability short- or long-term goals. This dynamic process involves a series of system transitions, which could be very challenging in management, mainly due to the need of triple-bottom-line based balance among a number of specific objectives. This renders a need of systematic approaches to generating and updating sustainability strategic plans and implementing the plans at the tactical control level.

In this paper, we discuss the controllability and observability problems of an industrial system in the context of sustainability. To characterize the dynamic performance of a system, we introduce a mathematical descriptor called the sustainability vector set. It is for the description of system’s temporal changes in the sustainability space. We then discuss how the sustainability vector set can be created under uncertainty that is always encountered during time-dependent sustainability assessment. The vector set provides the information needed for developing control strategies for continuous sustainability performance improvement. In the past, we introduced a hierarchical scheme for implementing two-layered strategic-tactical sustainability control, and developed a methodology to implement strategic control [1,2]. In this framework, we introduce a methodology to achieve tactical sustainability control that is to ensure successful implementation of sustainability actions in the lower layer of the hierarchical system. The tactical control is structured as a model reference adaptive control system, where the feedback controller is designed with adaptive parameters. The actuator of the system is designed to implement the technologies identified by the sustainability controller. A case study on the sustainability performance improvement of a metal surface finishing plant will be demonstrated to illustrate methodological efficacy.

References:

[1] Moradi-Aliabadi, M. and Y. Huang, "Multistage Optimization for Chemical Process Sustainability Enhancement under Uncertainty," ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 4(11), 6133-6143, 2016.

[2] Moradi-Aliabadi, M. and Y. Huang, “Decision Support for Enhancement of Manufacturing Sustainability: A Hierarchical Control Approach,” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 6(4), 4809–4820, 2018.

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* All correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Yinlun Huang (Phone: 313-577-3771; E-mail: yhuang@wayne.edu).