Patent Application
20100156655
Embodiments are generally related to data-processing systems and methods. Embodiments also relate in general to the field of computers and similar technologies, and in particular to software utilized in this field. In addition, embodiments relate to equipment area alarm summary display systems and methods.
Process control alarm systems are utilized in the area of factory automation and/or plants. A process control alarm system is employed in a distributed control system (DCS) of the factories and/or plants. Within the plants, various manufacturing processes include machines and equipment, which can be constantly monitored by a number of process control alarms. Specifically, these process control alarms inform operators that a process has exceeded process control tolerance limits.
Today, a software interface, especially GUI (Graphical User Interface), is utilized to aid the operators in understanding the overall process control alarms and its variables of one or more machines. These process control alarm variables are set and monitored through the GUI interface. In such alarm systems, the operators receive a large number of alarms at less period of time, which is named as alarm floods. The alarm floods are the phenomenon of presenting more alarms in a given period of time than a human operator can effectively respond to. Such alarm floods are inherently inadequate to support an operator in recognizing and coping with resulting abnormal or crisis situations.
In one prior art approach, the alarm systems create an alarm summary display to improve alarm system performance through improved alarm rationalization and alarm system maintenance practices. These efforts can make a considerable impact on reducing the likelihood of alarm flooding in the operator console through better alarm configuration and effective use of suppression techniques. However, even the alarm summary display does not eliminate the occurrence of alarm flooding to help the operator.
The majority of prior art alarm systems describe the visualization or design of a traditional alarm summary list of alarms in the DCS systems to the operator. These alarms summary lists pertain to how to configure or manage the alarms, but they do not aid the operator to easily handle the alarm floods in the DCS systems. Such an alarm system is not sufficient to reduce the alarm loads to a level that human operators can mentally process and physically respond to. Therefore, it is desirable to provide effective display design techniques to help operators cope with these inevitable alarm floods.
In an effort to address the foregoing difficulties, it is believed that a need exists for an improved equipment area alarm summary display system and method, which assists human operator coping with alarm floods. It is believed that the improved system and method disclosed herein can address these and other continuing needs.
The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the present invention and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
It is, therefore, one aspect of the present invention to provide for an improved data-processing method, system and computer-usable medium related to alarm management.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide for an improved equipment area alarm summary display system and method.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide for an equipment area alarm summary display utilized in the context of distributed control system (DCS) system.
The aforementioned aspects and other objectives and advantages can now be achieved as described herein. An equipment area alarm summary display system and method that can help operators cope with inevitable alarm floods is disclosed. An equipment area summary display with dedicated screen areas for each major equipment area works together with a detailed list display. Alarms within each equipment area can be grouped logically and can be shown via an icon with the most recent alarm indicators showing at the top of the display for each area. A specific alarm indication in the equipment area summary display can be selected so that a corresponding item can be highlighted in the detailed list display, if the alarms are active, thus enabling the operator to minimize the time needed to develop awareness of the flood situation and intervene to get the process back under control.
The dedicated screen area for each major equipment area can be either a full and/or a half panel screen area for up to 16 areas total, which can be sufficient for an operator's span of control. The alarm description in the equipment area summary represents the parameter type such as temperature, pressure, level, flow, point ID, and alarm type. Moreover, the equipment area summary display can include gray bands, color choices and font style/size for each selected equipment area, which improves segregation of locations.
A tool tip field can display a complete alarm description including a complete tag name, when a mouse is pointed over the alarm indicators in the equipment area summary display. The tag name can be shown for the alarms in a real-time presentation area. An acknowledge action button on the bottom of the detailed list display allows an operator to acknowledge any alarms selected in the detailed list display. Unacknowledged alarms can be shown via a fuller saturation and acknowledged alarms can be shown via a reduced saturation. The equipment area alarm summary display system works in conjunction with the detailed list display with highlighting and filtering functions in order to help the operator focus.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally-similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the present invention and, together with the detailed description of the invention, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.
The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least one embodiment and are not intended to limit the scope of such embodiments.
As depicted in
Illustrated in
The interface 153, which is preferably implemented as a graphical user interface (GUI), also serves to display results, whereupon the user may supply additional inputs or terminate the session. In some embodiments, operating system 151 and interface 153 can be implemented in the context of a Windows®-based system or another appropriate computer operating system. Window® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Equipment area alarm summary application module 152, on the other hand, can include instructions, such as the various operations described herein with respect to the various components and modules described herein, such as, for example, the method 600 depicted in
In the depicted example, server 304 and server 306 connect to network 302 along with storage unit 308. In addition, clients 310, 312, and 314 connect to network 302. These clients 310, 312, and 314 may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. Data-processing apparatus 100 depicted in
In the depicted example, server 304 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients 310, 312, and 314. Clients 310, 312, and 314 are clients to server 304 in this example. Network data processing system 300 can include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. Specifically, clients may connect to any member of a network of servers which provide equivalent content.
In the depicted example, network data processing system 300 is the Internet with network 302 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system 300 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).
The following description is presented with respect to embodiments of the present invention, which can be embodied in the context of a data-processing system such as data-processing apparatus 100, computer software system 150 and data processing system 300 and network 302 depicted respectively
The alarm system host computer 410 can receive an alarm message frame 406, which is issued by the process controllers 430 to the alarm system host computer 410 via the alarm system host computer data communication link 460. The alarm analysis tools auxiliary computer 420 can simultaneously receive the alarm message frame 406 via the alarm analysis tools auxiliary computer data communication link 470. The received alarm message frame 406 can be processed by an alarm analysis tools application 404, which resides on the alarm analysis tools auxiliary computer 420. The alarm analysis tools application 404 can be pre-configured and display a set of alarm messages 408 in accordance with information provided by the equipment area alarm summary display application 402.
The alarm message frame 406 can be generated by the process controllers 430 in response to alarm signals 441 received from a set of plant equipments 440 via process controller links 450. The alarm signals 441 can be issued from the plant equipments 440 due to an out-of-range detection, failure detection or a malfunction of the plant equipments 440. The alarm messages 408 can be transferred in the alarm message frame 406 in response to the process controllers 430. Such alarm messages 408 can be determined, organized and categorized into an equipment area summary display 510 and an alarm summary display 520, as illustrated in
The equipment area summary display 510 includes an alarm summary associated with each major equipment area 550 associated with an operator's scope of responsibility. The detailed list display 520 shows the detailed alarm descriptions for all selected major equipment areas 570 in the equipment area summary display 510. The equipment area 550 can be either displayed as a full panel 565 and/or as a half panel 560 for up to 16 areas depending upon an operator's span of control. If there are more than 16 equipment areas, then less “critical” areas can be combined. The alarms 580 within each equipment area 550 can be grouped logically and are shown via an icon 585 with the most recent alarm indicators showing at the top of the display 510 for each area. A specific alarm indication in the equipment area summary display 510 can be selected so that a corresponding item can be highlighted in the detailed alarm summary list 520, if the alarms are active.
The alarm descriptions in the equipment area summary display 510 represents the parameter type (T=Temperature; P=Pressure; L=level; F=Flow), point ID (as an abbreviated tag ID), and alarm type (Dev, LL, Lo, Hi, HH). Moreover, the equipment area summary display 510 can include gray bands, color choices and font style/size for each selected equipment area, which improves segregation of locations. For example, there are two areas selected as shown in darker gray panel and bolded text on area label i.e., Vac Tower 570 and Vac Furnaces 575, as illustrated in
A tool tip field (not shown) can display a complete alarm description including a complete tag name, when a mouse such as a mouse 421 as shown in
Referring to
By observing the display, an operator can easily find the most critical process conditions in the Equipment Rows in the Alarm Trend window. Use the icons, which indicate: alarm priority—either low, high, or urgent priority; the type of alarm—like a Lo-Lo limit exceedance, Hi-Hi exceedance, BadPV, etc.; the alarm status—whether it is Active, Unacknowledged (full color & flashing), Active, Acknowledged (half-color & not flashing), or Active, Return-to-Normal (white color and flashing). An operator can identify the most critical alarm condition by looking at one or more of the following: the highest priority, unacknowledged alarm (still flashing); the equipment area with the most unacknowledged alarms; and the most critical equipment area with an unacknowledged alarm. Short descriptors should also help you identify the most critical alarm(s).
After identifying the most critical alarm condition, an operator can look at the alarm or pattern of alarms for that equipment area to determine what actions should be taken by observing the pattern of alarms, by looking at the Alarm Trend window and the icons and short descriptors associated with the critical alarm condition. If more information is needed than the icons and short descriptors, an operator can mouse-over on the critical alarm or group of alarms get a pop-up menu that has long descriptions that are normally obtainable in the alarm list. When there is a group or burst of alarms, an operator should normally not respond to single alarms, but instead can look for the pattern of alarms if there is more than one alarm and respond to the underlying process condition generating the group of alarms. Alternatively, an operator can focus the alarm list on the equipment area that has the critical alarm condition, by clicking in that equipment area in the Alarm Trend window. While taking the control actions, an operator can keep monitoring the summary information to make sure other more critical alarms have not come in for another equipment area. If a more critical alarm condition arises in another equipment area, an operator can repeat the alarm response strategy for that more critical alarm condition. After completing the required control actions, acknowledge the alarm or alarms that an operator just dealt with. It is important to acknowledge alarms after an operator have taken the appropriate control actions, so that you can keep up with alarms more easily during alarm flood situations. To acknowledge a group of alarms for that equipment area, an operator can do a mouse-over and right-click, which gives you the “Acknowledge Cluster” button in the pop-up text box. By clicking the “Acknowledge Cluster” button in the pop-up text box the system can acknowledge all the alarms in the pop-up box. If that equipment area is in the Alarm List, an operator can click on the “Acknowledge Page” button below the Alarm List. To acknowledge one alarm, an operator can focus the alarm list on a specific Equipment Area by clicking in that equipment area in the Alarm Trend view, then click the “Ack” button in the row of the one alarm that you want to acknowledge. After acknowledging the alarm or alarms in the alarm condition that an operator had taken appropriate control actions for, an operator can return to the summary information in the new summary displays, and repeat the overall alarm response strategy.
Programs defining functions on the present invention can be delivered to a data storage system or a computer system via a variety of signal-bearing media, which include, without limitation, non-writable storage media (e.g., CD-ROM), writable storage media (e.g., hard disk drive, read/write CD ROM, optical media), system memory such as but not limited to Random Access Memory (RAM), and communication media, such as computer and telephone networks including Ethernet, the Internet, wireless networks, and like network systems. It should be understood, therefore, that such signal-bearing media when carrying or encoding computer readable instructions that direct method functions in the present invention, represent alternative embodiments of the present invention. Further, it is understood that the present invention may be implemented by a system having means in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware as described herein or their equivalent. Thus, the method 700 described herein can be deployed as process software in the context of a computer system or data-processing system as that depicted in
An equipment area summary display 510 with dedicated screen areas for each major equipment area 550 can be graphically displayed in conjunction with a detailed list display 520, as depicted at block 710. The alarm description in the equipment area summary 510 can be represented with parameter type, point ID and alarm type, as depicted at block 720. Thereafter, items and/or alarms within each major equipment area panel 550 can be arranged chronologically with most recent alarm indicators 580 on top, as depicted at block 730. Next, as depicted at block 740, the major equipment area(s) 550 can be selected from the equipment area summary display 510 to view detailed alarm descriptions in the detailed list display 520. The detailed alarm summary display 520 comprising detailed alarm descriptions for all selected major equipment areas 570 and 575 can be displayed, as depicted at block 750. Hence, the method 700 can allow an operator to see when alarms occur, their sequence, relations and priority, which aid the operators cope with inevitable alarm floods.
The two displays 510 and 520 work together wherein the display 510 provides high level alarm information grouped logically into major equipment areas. The display 520 provides detailed information on an alarm. Such display design techniques help operators cope with these inevitable alarm floods. Specifically, the displays 510 and 520 help an operator understand how a flood developed and could minimize the time needed to develop awareness of the flood situation and intervene to get the process back under control.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, as used in the specification and the appended claims, the term “computer” or “system” or “computer system” or “computing device” includes any data processing system including, but not limited to, personal computers, servers, workstations, network computers, main frame computers, routers, switches, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's), telephones, and any other system capable of processing, transmitting, receiving, capturing and/or storing data.
It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
