MERL - Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories

Multi-Physical Modeling

Optimal design & robust control through multi-physical modeling.

Our work involves the development of state-of-art modeling and simulation tools for complex, heterogeneous systems. We apply these models for the optimal design and robust control of a variety of systems including HVAC systems, zero-energy buildings, automobiles, and robotic systems.

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  • Awards

    •  AWARD    Best Paper Award at SDEMPED 2023
      Date: August 30, 2023
      Awarded to: Bingnan Wang, Hiroshi Inoue, and Makoto Kanemaru
      MERL Contact: Bingnan Wang
      Research Areas: Applied Physics, Data Analytics, Multi-Physical Modeling
      Brief
      • MERL and Mitsubishi Electric's paper titled “Motor Eccentricity Fault Detection: Physics-Based and Data-Driven Approaches” was awarded one of three best paper awards at the 14th IEEE International Symposium on Diagnostics for Electric Machines, Power Electronics and Drives (SDEMPED 2023). MERL Senior Principal Research Scientist Bingnan Wang presented the paper and received the award at the symposium. Co-authors of the paper include Mitsubishi Electric researchers Hiroshi Inoue and Makoto Kanemaru.

        SDEMPED was established as the only international symposium entirely devoted to the diagnostics of electrical machines, power electronics and drives. It is now a regular biennial event. The 14th version, SDEMPED 2023 was held in Chania, Greece from August 28th to 31st, 2023.
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  • News & Events


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  • Internships

    • MS2012: Residual Model Learning for Building Energy Systems

      MERL is looking for a highly motivated and qualified candidate to work on learning residual dynamics to augment ODE/DAE-based models of building energy systems. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of system identification, optimization, machine learning and/or function approximation; additional understanding of energy systems is a plus. Hands-on programming experience with numerical optimization solvers and Python is preferred; experience with Modelica/FMUs is a plus. PhD students are strongly preferred, as an expected outcome of the internship is a publication in a high-tier venue. The minimum duration of the internship is 12 weeks; start time is flexible.

    • EA2050: Electric Motor Design and Electromagnetic Analysis

      MERL is seeing a motivated and qualified individual to conduct research on electric motor design and modeling, with a strong focus on electromagnetic analysis. Ideal candidates should be Ph.D. students with solid background and publication record in one more research area on electric machines: electric and magnetic modeling, new machine design and prototyping, harmonic analysis, fault detection, and predictive maintenance. Research experiences on modeling and analysis of electric machines and fault diagnosis are required. Hands-on experience with new motor design and data analysis techniques are highly desirable. Start date for this internship is flexible and the duration is 3-6 months.

    • MS1851: Dynamic Modeling and Control for Grid-Interactive Buildings

      MERL is looking for a highly motivated and qualified candidate to work on modeling for smart sustainable buildings. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of modeling renewable energy sources, grid-interactive buildings, occupant behavior, and dynamical systems with expertise demonstrated via, e.g., peer-reviewed publications. Hands-on programming experience with Modelica is preferred. The minimum duration of the internship is 12 weeks; start time is flexible. This internship is preferred to be onsite at MERL, but may be done remotely where you live if the COVID pandemic makes it necessary.


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  • Recent Publications

    •  Zhan, S., Chakrabarty, A., Laughman, C.R., Chong, A., "A Virtual Testbed for Robust and Reproducible Calibration of Building Energy Simulation Models", 18th IBPSA International Conference and Exhibition Building Simulation, September 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-114 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Zhan2023sep,
      • author = {Zhan, Sicheng and Chakrabarty, Ankush and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chong, Adrian},
      • title = {A Virtual Testbed for Robust and Reproducible Calibration of Building Energy Simulation Models},
      • booktitle = {18th IBPSA International Conference and Exhibition Building Simulation},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = sep,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-114}
      • }
    •  Wang, B., Inoue, H., Kanemaru, M., "Motor Eccentricity Fault Detection: Physics-Based and Data-Driven Approaches", IEEE International Symposium on Diagnostics for Electric Machines, Power Electronics and Drives (SDEMPED), August 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-107 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Wang2023aug,
      • author = {Wang, Bingnan and Inoue, Hiroshi and Kanemaru, Makoto},
      • title = {Motor Eccentricity Fault Detection: Physics-Based and Data-Driven Approaches},
      • booktitle = {IEEE International Symposium on Diagnostics for Electric Machines, Power Electronics and Drives (SDEMPED)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = aug,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-107}
      • }
    •  Laughman, C.R., Deshpande, V.M., Qiao, H., Bortoff, S.A., Chakrabarty, A., "Digital Twins for Vapor Compression Cycles: Challenges & Opportunities", International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR), August 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-103 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Laughman2023aug,
      • author = {Laughman, Christopher R. and Deshpande, Vedang M. and Qiao, Hongtao and Bortoff, Scott A. and Chakrabarty, Ankush},
      • title = {Digital Twins for Vapor Compression Cycles: Challenges & Opportunities},
      • booktitle = {International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = aug,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-103}
      • }
    •  Bortoff, S.A., Sanders, H., Girindhar, D., "Impedance Control of a Delta Robot", World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), July 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-090 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Bortoff2023jul,
      • author = {Bortoff, Scott A. and Sanders, Haley and Girindhar, Deepika},
      • title = {Impedance Control of a Delta Robot},
      • booktitle = {World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-090}
      • }
    •  Chakrabarty, A., Vinod, A.P., Mansour, H., Bortoff, S.A., Laughman, C.R., "Moving Horizon Estimation for Digital Twins using Deep Autoencoders", World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), July 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-088 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Chakrabarty2023jul2,
      • author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Vinod, Abraham P. and Mansour, Hassan and Bortoff, Scott A. and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Moving Horizon Estimation for Digital Twins using Deep Autoencoders},
      • booktitle = {World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-088}
      • }
    •  Chakrabarty, A., Wichern, G., Laughman, C.R., "Meta-Learning of Neural State-Space Models Using Data From Similar Systems", World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), July 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-087 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Chakrabarty2023jul,
      • author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Wichern, Gordon and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Meta-Learning of Neural State-Space Models Using Data From Similar Systems},
      • booktitle = {World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-087}
      • }
    •  Deshpande, V.M., Laughman, C.R., "Multi-pass Extended Kalman Smoother with Partially-known Constraints for Estimation of Vapor Compression Cycles", World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), July 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-079 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Deshpande2023jul,
      • author = {Deshpande, Vedang M. and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Multi-pass Extended Kalman Smoother with Partially-known Constraints for Estimation of Vapor Compression Cycles},
      • booktitle = {World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-079}
      • }
    •  Salatiello, A., Wang, Y., Wichern, G., Koike-Akino, T., Yoshihiro, O., Kaneko, Y., Laughman, C.R., Chakrabarty, A., "Synthesizing Building Operation Data with Generative Models: VAEs, GANs, or Something In Between?", ACM e-Energy Conference, DOI: 10.1145/​3599733.3600260, June 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-072 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Salatiello2023jun,
      • author = {Salatiello, Alessandro and Wang, Ye and Wichern, Gordon and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Yoshihiro, Ohta and Kaneko, Yosuke and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chakrabarty, Ankush},
      • title = {Synthesizing Building Operation Data with Generative Models: VAEs, GANs, or Something In Between?},
      • booktitle = {ACM e-Energy Conference},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jun,
      • doi = {10.1145/3599733.3600260},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-072}
      • }
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