Course T300, Engineering an 800xA System

Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 14 Alarm and Event........................................................................................................................................................ 14-1
14.1 General Information......................................................................................................................................................... 14-3
14.1.1 Description ................................................................................................................................................................ 14-3
14.1.2 Objectives.................................................................................................................................................................. 14-3
14.1.3 Reference Documentation......................................................................................................................................... 14-3
14.2 Alarm and Event .............................................................................................................................................................. 14-4
14.2.1 General ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14-4
14.2.2 What you can do with Alarms and Events ............................................................................................................... 14-4
14.2.3 How Alarms and Events are Presented .................................................................................................................... 14-5
14.3 Alarm and Event service.................................................................................................................................................. 14-7
14.3.1 Setup.......................................................................................................................................................................... 14-7
14.3.2 Reduce Alarm List .................................................................................................................................................... 14-8
14.4 Alarm and Event list aspect ........................................................................................................................................... 14-10
14.4.1 Where to place the aspect?...................................................................................................................................... 14-10
14.4.2 Template.................................................................................................................................................................. 14-10
14.4.3 Filtering ................................................................................................................................................................... 14-10
14.4.4 Additional Settings.................................................................................................................................................. 14-11
14.4.5 Operations ............................................................................................................................................................... 14-12
14.5 External Alarms ............................................................................................................................................................. 14-16

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14.1 General Information

14.1.1 Description
This chapter introduces the Alarm and Event Handling.

14.1.2 Objectives
On completion of this chapter you will be able to:

Describe how alarms and events are presented

Set up the OPC Connection for Alarms and Events (Alarm and Events service)

Deal with alarms in the alarm list aspect

14.1.3 Reference Documentation

Control Builder manuals Software, Alarm and Event Handling
Process Portal documentation Alarm and Event Reference

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

14.2 Alarm and Event

14.2.1 General
Alarms and events are used to inform the operator as to the status of processes and
systems.
Events give information regarding changes in the state of alarms and other
occurrences in the plant.
Alarms are events that alert you to an abnormal state and needs to be acknowledged
An alarm status is presented in an alarm list. The events are stored primarily on disk,
and presented in event lists.
In an alarm condition, the operator is able to monitor status changes of a certain signal
of Boolean type. When such a signal changes value, it causes a change in the alarm
condition. This in turn creates an event. The alarm condition and the event have their
origin in the system in which the alarm condition is present. The alarm condition also
changes if any of the following actions are carried out locally on an alarm:

acknowledgement

disabling

enabling

auto-disabling

Alarm Server and Storage

The Alarm Server holds the Alarm Database, storing the current status of alarms for
the objects accessed by the server. In other words, each process object added to your
system automatically gets alarm information stored.
Event Server and Storage
The Event Server holds the Event Database storing all process events that occur as
well as all system messages. By default the system message server holds
approximately 6000 messages in a circular file but the size can be changed.

14.2.2 What you can do with Alarms and Events

You can access the alarm functionality as part of the configuration (Application Bar,
Status Bar, display shortcuts) or through aspects selectable from a workplace.
Typical of what you can do includes:

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Alarm List - view current alarm status for all objects or for a particular set of
object and descendants (optional)

Event List - view events

Engineering an 800xA System

Alarm Acknowledge - you can acknowledge alarms from lists or from

graphics displays or using the context menu Acknowledge verb

Alarm Band - view the number of Unacknowledged Alarms and use the
button type link to the associated list view (commonly placed in the
Application Bar)

The Sequence Bar is a status display, where the defined number of alarms is
displayed horizontally

Message List - view selected categories of messages in a list type format

Logging - printout alarms and or events to a dedicated line printer

Acknowledge security - set up security to allow and deny groups or users to

acknowledge alarms

External Alarm - activate and deactivate an external alarm notification.

14.2.3 How Alarms and Events are Presented

Alarm Line

Flashing red indication in

theobject presentation

Process
Portal A

Beep!

Alarm and
Event Lists

Acoustic signal

2
Control Network

Process
Controller

Beep

External alarm
Process

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

1. An alarm limit in the process is exceeded.

2. A message is sent from the controller, via the OPC server, to the alarm server
in the operator station.
The details for presentation are defined by the alarm and event configurations
in the Library Structure.
NOTE!
The objects Name and Description variables must be defined in
Control Builder M Professional to get correct Alarm indication in
Process Portal A

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14.3 Alarm and Event service

14.3.1 Setup
You have to connect to an OPC Alarm Server (collector) before you can get any
alarms and events. You do this collector connection as follows:
1. Open the Service Structure in the Plant Explorer and expand Services.
2. Open Alarm & Event, Service and select Basic, Service Group.
3. Select Service Group Definition in the aspect list.
4. Select the Special Configuration tab in the preview area.
5. Click onto the Add button.

6. A new dialog window opens. Select the OPC Server that is your collector
(supplier of alarm and event information).

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

7.

Click onto the OK button and you have made the connection to the OPC
Server (collector). The name of the server appears in the Collector Programs
ID area. Click Apply.

14.3.2 Reduce Alarm List

If one alarm occurs several times you can reduce your alarm list so that this alarm is
presenting only ones. The setting for this is located at the Special Configuration tab
card and is called New Alarm When Condition Gets Active.
For reducing your alarm list please disable this setting.

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

14.4 Alarm and Event list aspect

The Alarm and Event List aspect have two views - the Main View and the Config
View. Use the Config View to set up the association of the list to a selected
configuration aspect and what elements are to be displayed on the list.

14.4.1 Where to place the aspect?

Typically a Alarm / Event aspect is placed in the Functional Structure. Only in this
structure you can use the filter options in an efficient way (see 14.4.3 Filtering).
Anyway, you can place the aspect in the Control Structure as well.

14.4.2 Template
The Alarm and Event list aspect base on a template (used in the T301 course:
Engineering an 800xA system Advanced). You can select another template by using
the Configuration area as displayed in the picture below. The picture displays the
Config View of an Alarm and Event aspect.

Per default a lot of predefined templates exist. The option Local will allow you to set
all the template settings locally at your Alarm / Event aspect. This is managed in the
Main View of the aspect (tool bar button View Configuration). In this basic course we
will not deal with these settings. Creating a new template from scratch and dealing
with all this settings is used in the T301 course: Engineering an 800xA system
Advanced.

14.4.3 Filtering
The Config View of an Alarm / Event List aspect allows setup a filter.

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Define an alarm filter in the Alarm filter area:

Mark the All alarms radio button to allow this aspect to display alarms and
events for all objects.

Mark the Object Alarms radio button to show the alarms and events related
to the object the Alarm List aspect belongs to.

Mark the Object and descendants radio button to show the alarms and events
related to the object the Alarm List aspect belongs to and to all its descendents
independent of structure.

Mark the Object and descendants in structure radio button to show the
alarms and events related to the object the Alarm List aspect belongs to and to
all its descendents in the selected structure.
Note: Prevent using this option because of increasing CPU power.

If the Object and descendants in structure radio button is marked as a filter, then
select the structure from the drop-down menu.

14.4.4 Additional Settings

The Config View of an Alarm / Event aspects offers some additional settings.

List Title

Play Alarm Sounds

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

14.4.4.1 List Title

The list title name is displayed in the Alarm Band of the operator workplace.

14.4.4.2 Show Tool Bar

This option enables the tool bar in the Main View of the Alarm / Event aspect.

14.4.4.3 Play Alarm Sounds

Enable the option Play Alarm Sounds for getting knowledge about new alarms by a
sound. This sound is defined in the alarm template.

14.4.5 Operations
The picture below displays the Main View of an Alarm and Event List aspect.

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14.4.5.1 Tool Bar

The Main View of an Alarm / Event aspects offers a tool bar.

14.4.5.2 Acknowledge
You can Acknowledge Alarms for an Aspect Object in the following ways:

Click on the Ack State box for the alarm in the list to acknowledge the one
alarm. If not logged on as operator blink behavior around check box will not
occur.

Select a group of individual alarms and then,

select Acknowledge Selected in the context menu or

select the Acknowledge button (green check mark)

By right clicking on an object in, for example, a process display or process

graphic, then clicking on the Acknowledge verb in the context menu.

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

To be allowed to acknowledge an alarm you need to be granted permission for

this operation. By default is Operator permission required.

14.4.5.3 Silence Alarms

To silence an audible alarm, click on the Silence button or select Silence in the
context menu. This is a one shot type action that silences the current audible alarm. If
a new audible alarm then occurs, that alarm must be silenced again.

14.4.5.4 Deleting Alarms

To delete an alarm:
1. Select one or a group of rows to delete.
2. Press the Delete key, or choose the Delete command in the context menu.

14.4.5.5 Stopping and Starting Alarm and Event Updates

You can stop or restart list updates using the Stop button or the Stop Update line in the
context menu.

14.4.5.6 Order Column

The Order Column is shown only when update is stopped. In this column you can
acknowledge or delete (if you have the permission) alarm lines.
If you, after making some acknowledges and/or deletes in the order column, try to
start the updating again, a warning dialog will open on the screen. If you click on the
Yes button in this dialog, updating is starting again and the acknowledge marked lines
will be acknowledged and the deleted marked lines will be deleted.

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Chapter 14 Alarm and Event

14.5 External Alarms

The External Alarm function provides aspect systems and components to make it
possible to setting a digital output when a specific alarm list gets an active alarm. For
example a horn can sound if a new alarm get active in the alarm list.
The aspect for this functionality is called External Alarm Configuration.

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