Sophisticate Alarm Analysis and Management

 

The alarm system is critical for plant operation, but how well are the alarms managed as a system?

Most DCS systems based on Windows provide enhanced alarm management function though still limited in analysis and managing ability.

Advanced customer want to access the alarm and event data in their PCs and more sophisticate statistic algorithm to analysis the data.

The Process Alarm Toolkit assists in all aspects of alarm maintenance, from operator interfaces to management of change functions to quality control.

Until now. Process Alarm Toolkit unleashes the power of computers so that you can design and maintain your alarm system at its optimum. How? By collecting, analyzing, and presenting alarm data so you can ensure your operators get the right alarm at the right time, with the right backup information.

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Six different Windows programs have been designed to carry out these tasks.

  1. AlarmCapture:     It automatically collects alarms, events, and logs from DCS and stores them to an MS-SQL or MS-ACCESS database.
  2. AlarmAnalysis:    It determines what ails your alarm system: redundant, ignored, chattering alarms, duration, standing, sequence, correlation etc.  Also it checks that PV alarms are set properly as integrating with process history database like PI, PHD, or InfoPlus.
  3. AlarmManager:    It’s Alarm master documentation with alarm maintenance history. It maintains a database of what the alarm settings should be, and expected operator responses to the alarms. It compares them to the actual alarm system to ensure your design matches plant expectations.
  4. AlarmAssistant:   It gives operators instantaneous information on alarm events – such as causes, consequences of ignoring, and expected responses.
  5. AlarmEnforcer:     It enables your operators to temporarily change alarm limits based on local conditions, but ensures that the design limits are enforced on a scheduled basis.
  6. AlarmInspector:   It automatically analyzes the historized alarm data on a scheduled basis and generates a report detailing the quality of your alarm system. Alarm History Analysis is a set of data mining techniques that allow

We also have Alarm Prediction module named AlarmOracle.

AlarmOracle:        It’s alarm prediction module based on the past historized values of the alarm and the PV to determine whether any current PV is likely to alarm in the near future. This program can also be used to assess whether the current alarm settings are optimal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Real-Time Alarm & Event Database               

AlarmCapture is a module of the Process Alarm Toolkit. It is real-time database to collect and save the alarm and Event journals from DCS, and keeps them for a long-term as a format that's easy to retrieve and analyze.

The Alarm Capture program captures and stores all the Alarms (including Operator Moves and System Message) in your database as just connect a PC to a DCS printer port.

It will even send a page, SMS, or Voice when specified alarms (Tag name, Parameter, Message, Person, Telephone Number, and Deadband) occur -- instantly alerting key plant

1. Key functions of AlarmCapture

  • Real-time alarm and event data collection from DCS
  • Separation the Process Alarm, Operator Chang, and System Message, and display and save them in the 3 different windows and tables.
  • Clients access the database in MS-EXCEL through MS-EXCEL standard query function.
  • Automatic database backup as configured period.
  • Alarm summary report for alarm parameter and priority.
  • Operator change report for pre-defined operator change parameters
  • Creation of DCS report (log) as text, MS-EXCEL, or MS-WORD formation.
  • Creation of DCS graphic files
  • Automatic SMS, Paging, or Voice for pre-defined alarms

2. Features of AlarmCapture

  • Supporting 16 Alarm & Event collection ports.
  • Unlimited user license
  • Complete database to save each parameter to separated field (Almost alarm systems save all strings in one field or text file, but AlarmCapture separates all parameters as Date/Time, Tag, Description, Alarm Type, Alarm Value, Priority, Unit, PV, Engineering Unit, Old Value, and New Value, and save them to the each field in the database. Therefore AlarmCapture doesn’t need client tool for database access and it can query data in any PC networked with AlarmCapture.).
  • Easy data integration with 3rd party system through standard interface like ODBC, or SQL.
  • Easy data management for long term data in single database.
  • Easy data mining as MS-EXCEL add-in function.
  • Data communication with various DCSes through serial, parallel, TCP/IP, or OPC A&E.
  • Data save or back-up at the any networked PC with AlarmCapture server.
  • Simple installation (just cable connection with DCS)
  • Simple Configuration for communication (just configure baud rate, start/stop bit, and parity for DCS)
  • Simple Configuration for database (database and backup database name with directory, backup period)
  • Security for program start/stop, database, or configuration change.
  • Complete compatible with Process Alarm Toolkit and AlarmOracle.

3. Minimum Hardware Specification

  • Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz with Ethernet
  • Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional
  • Memory : 512GB, Harddisk : 20GB