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Handling the PV Bad Alarm Differently

Hello,

I have a customer (v14.3) that is going through Alarm Rationalization now and has approached me about how to handle the PV Bad alarm differently. Currently, the PV Bad alarms in the system are either all at Critical or Advisory, depending on the time frame in which they were implemented.

The end goals are:

  • Convert the PVBad to be a significantly lower priority
  • Hide the PV Bad alarm from the alarm banner and summary for the Operators
  • Do not allow PVBad to activate the dynamos alarm indications (the colored border and icon)
  • Allow PVBad to be displayed on the module faceplate alarm summary or similar indication on the faceplate
  • Create an alarm summary graphic dedicated to showing PV Bad alarms for the Maintenance team

I'm not really sure how to go about achieving all of those goals. It seems (to me) that some of them are mutually exclusive. 

For instance, I know I can:

  • Convert PV Bad to Priority level 4 alarm
  • Hide PV Bad from the alarm banners by changing their filter properties
  • Create a separate alarm summary graphic

However, at the same time I can't:

  • Prevent the (FRSTheme) dynamos from showing an alarm indication

I toyed with the idea of using the Log level priority on PV Bad, but that has it's own issues:

  • Cannot create a summary graphic
  • Will have to manually add a PVBad indication to the module faceplates

It would be nice if there was a way to segregate or filter alarm priorities by Operator Station or Area or some such. 

In examining the dynamo alarm indication logic, it looks at the LAALM property of the module. It seems that the only time the LAALM isn't set is if there is no alarm or if it is log level priority. Is there a way to prevent a priority level 4 alarm from triggering LAALM?

Is there another way to do what they are trying to do?

Thanks,
Dave

4 Replies

  • In the UserSettings.grf (User_Ref.grf if you don't have it) there is a section that will allow you to filter the alarm priorities so the operator won't see on dynamos, FPs, alarms banners, etc.

    In the script of this display, search for INIT_ALARM_THRESHOLD and you will find the area to do this. The variable needs to be 1 and then you will see lower in the script where you can set the priority threshold that you won't see.

    If you didn't have a UserSettings.grf, make your changes in User_Ref and save it as UserSettings in the Standard directory. If you need workstation specific then the picture has some notes on how to do this.
  • In reply to Matt Stoner:

    Hi Matt,

    This doesn't seem to be working, or I'm doing it wrong.  The alarm who's priority level I'm trying to hide is 4.

    Below is my code from the UserSettings.grf file; it is identical to the one in the workstation specific _Settings file.  The alarm seems to have disappeared from the Alarm Summary graphic, but it still shows on the faceplate and the dynamo.

    '===================================
    'Alarm threshold initialization
    ' NOTE
    'Uncomment only ONE of the following #Const lines at a time
    'To Disable - uncomment the '=0' line and comment the '=1' line.
    'To Enable - uncomment the '=1' line and comment the '=0' line.
    '
    'Uncomment the following line to disable the initialization of the Alarm Threshold default values
    '#Const INIT_ALARM_THRESHOLD = 0 'Disables Initialzation of Alarm Threshold Defaults
    '
    'Uncomment the following line to enable the initialization of the Alarm Threshold default values
    #Const INIT_ALARM_THRESHOLD = 1 'Enables Initialzation of Alarm Threshold Defaults
    '
    'These values control the alarms that will be displayed
    'Uncomment the following lines, and set the value to the desired threshold.
    'in the alarm banner.
    'default values :
    Const PROCESS_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 5
    Const DEVICE_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 7
    Const HARDWARE_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 7
    Const SIS_PROCESS_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 5
    Const SIS_DEVICE_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 7
    Const SIS_HARDWARE_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 5
    #If INIT_ALARM_THRESHOLD Then

  • In reply to dave_marshall:

    On the ActiveX object on the Faceplate (assume that is what is being used), when you select "Properties...DeltaV.DVAlarmSummary Object", go to the  Filters Tab, is the Priorities selected enabled with Same as the Alarm Banner?

    The dynamos you do have to ensure you are using the frs variable for this work. Alarm indication should only be visible if:

    ( DVSYS.MODULETAG/ALARMS[1].F_PRI > frsVariables.alarmBan_glb.gn_processAlarmThreshold.CurrentValue ) OR
    ( DVSYS.MODULETAG/ALARMS[1].F_LAALM > 0 AND DVSYS.MODULETAG/ALARMS[1].F_PRI = 3 )

    The second part of that visibility condition is to show alarm suppression icon if no other alarms are active.

  • In reply to Matt Stoner:

    Ahhh, that is the problem. The dynamos are Emerson based back from 2008 and don't have that condition in them.

    I was hoping to avoid doing a mass update of dynamos until they switched to Live in a year or so.

    Thanks for the help! If my dynamos weren't such a mess, then that would have worked w/o issue.