PROCESS CONTROL

I Alarm management strategy

by Abu Augustine,
Lafarge Group,
Karnan Karunakaran, Lakeside
Process Controls Ltd &
Jack Murray, Emerson Process
Management, USA

he implementation of advanced
digital process controls in cement
plants has now made it possible
to intelligently classify and organise the
way in which alarms are presented to the
operator. Modern process control systems
now not only provide an out of the box
solution for general automation needs but
they also have the added capability of an
integrated alarm/interlock management
and knowledge based system. Such
advanced capability, embedded and
seamlessly integrated with the standard
process control system, gives the cement
industry the tools they need to address
the increased concerns of safety and
environment, an aging work force and
the need for improved operational
effectiveness.
For example, to prevent alarm
flooding only the root cause incident
and the first affected equipment may be
alarmed when a sequence is triggered
to shutdown by a process condition or
equipment shutdown. Alarms also can
be linked to a knowledge base that
provides the operator with information
on the root cause of the alarm and a
recommendation for corrective action.
This proposed approach has the potential
to increase throughput, improve quality
and reduce costs by significantly
increasing the proportion of time in which
the equipment can be run in automatic
mode by rule based engines at optimal
levels of efficiency.

Increasingly complex
environment
Cement plant central control rooms are
becoming more complex as they are
being required to monitor and control
more processes and systems for the entire
50 ICR SEPTEMBER 2008

This article describes proposed advanced alarm management strategy

for cement industry operational efficiency. Proliferation of alarms is a
major problem in many cement plants, making it difficult for operators
to distinguish between critical events and nuisance alarms. Far too often
operators are overwhelmed by a large number of alarms. When such alarm
flooding occurs, operators tend to take over control of the plant from their
rule based engines that can run them at a much higher level of efficiency.
The unfortunate results are lower production rates, off-spec clinker, and
overall decreased operational efficiency.

Figure 1: control panel screen segregates

alarms into primary and secondary

plant. Operators are being asked to

make an increasing number of rapid and
correct decisions to maintain high levels
of quality and throughput. But the high
levels of automation and cost pressures
in the cement industry have dramatically
reduced the number of people involved
in running the plant. The most advanced
cement producers have responded by
developing rule engines that optimise
operating parameters such as feed rates
by smaller and more frequent changes

than operators are able to do. Rule

engines are typically able to operate the
plant approximately 90 per cent of the
time and while they are doing so they
can generally increase mill production by
an average of six per cent while reducing
product variation.
But operators tend to trust rule engines
when the plant is stable and running
normally. There is no substitute for the
human operator in dealing with situations
where a measurement point reaches

Table 1: metrics provided by EEMUA 191

Alarm condition
Average alarm rate in steady operation
Alarms in 10 minutes after plant upset
Average number of starting alarms
Average number of shelved alarms

Benchmark value
less than 1 per 10 minutes
under 10
under 10
under 30

PROCESS CONTROL

a high alarm, low alarm or some other

variation. Of course the plant runs much
more efficiently when it is under rule
based control so the ideal situation is for
an operator to quickly understand the
cause of alarm and take corrective action.
The vast majority of alarm situations can
be readily dealt with by operators without
having to take the plant out of rule based
control if they quickly understand the root
cause of the problem. When the operator
doesnt understand the situation or what
is causing the problem, there is a tendency
to shut down the rule engine and move
into semi-automatic or manual mode
while operators try and figure out what is
going on.

Alarm management
challenges
Most processes in the cement industry are
highly interactive. If there is a failure of
a critical asset, such as a motor tripping
on overload, then the feed stops to
the downstream processes. Each of the
downstream processes runs out of feed so
they also trip one after another. In matter
of seconds, an operator may be faced
with scores of cascading alarms, often of
equal priority. It may take a considerable
period of time to identify the root cause
of the problem. Beyond that, it is often
difficult to determine the severity of the
problem. Is this a safety concern that
justifies immediately shutting down the
process or is it a simple matter that can
be corrected while continuing with rule
based control? The operator has to make
these kinds of decisions in seconds and if
he or she isnt sure then it is necessary to
err on the side of safety even though this
will have a negative impact on the plants
operating performance.
The goal of an alarm management
strategy should be to organise and
manage alarms so the operators can
easily distinguish between critical and
nuisance alarms, can quickly identify
the root cause of the problem and have
information at their fingertips as to what
type of corrective action is needed.
Accomplishing this goal requires that an
alarm management strategy be developed
and that this strategy be embedded into
the process control system. Fortunately,
the latest generation of digital process
control systems such as the Emersons
DeltaV digital automation system provide
a complete toolset to build intelligence

Figure 2: knowledge
base message entry for
proposed Advanced Alarm
Management Strategy

into alarms based on the knowledge of

the most experienced plant personnel.
This built-in intelligence or knowledge
base enables operators to quickly identify
and understand alarms that represent
real problems that require immediate
attention. This intelligence can be
embedded into standard control modules
that process these alarms behind the
scenes to manage the way in which they
are presented to users.

Development of Alarm
Management Strategy
Most modern process control systems
already have extensive alarm management
functionality and compatibility with
industry standards such as EEMUA 191.
This standard, outlined in a publication
entitled Alarm Systems, a Guide to Design,
Management, and Procurement provided
by Engineering Equipment and Materials
Users Association provides, among other
things, recommended performance
targets for alarms system measurements.
Table 1 shows examples of metrics that
can be applied to measure alarm system
performance. However, many users
are exploring ways to extend this base
functionality to include integrated alarm
management, interlock management, and
knowledge based systems.
In Emersons DeltaV, the basic building
block for this alarm/interlock management
and knowledge based system is a library
of object oriented control modules built
into the basic process automation system.
Each module is powerful yet easy to
configure and re-configure. Because
the system is so intuitive, it can be reconfigured and kept current by any
authorised plant engineer or operator.
Each module is assigned to a specific
plant asset pump, fan, damper motor,

kiln oxygen sensor, etc. Each module

and its associated faceplate has all the
attributes needed to enable the alarm/
interlock management and knowledge
based system. Attributes include:
basic process control for the asset
asset interlock functions
asset alarm functions
asset knowledge base.
A key element of an Advanced Alarm
Management Strategy is that any process
condition caused by a process upset
or process parameter deviation from
the target needs to be brought to the
operators attention as an Alarm for
Action. Alarms for Action can be classified
into two categories called primary and
secondary. Figure 1 shows the segregation
of alarms into primary and secondary.
Any alarm that can shut down the main
line process equipment and eventually
the entire plant can be defined under
the primary category. Alarms that are
caused by faults that will not trigger
the shutdown of the entire plant can
be classified as secondary. Primary and
secondary alarms are clearly delineated
and operators are expected to deal with
all outstanding primary alarms before
turning their attention to secondary
alarms. The only exception is of course if
a secondary alarm involves a safety issue.
Each of the two categories of alarms is
further classified into different subtypes
called: Log, Advisory, Warning and
Critical with Log being the least and
Critical the highest priority. Alarms
are displayed with the banner with the
highest priority unacknowledged alarm
being on top. Colours of each type of
alarm are different so that operators can
easily identify the severity of the alarm.
Another key element of an advanced
alarm management strategy is the
SEPTEMBER 2008 ICR 51

PROCESS CONTROL

Figure 3: bypass and interlock information control display

operator interface. The alarm/interlock

management system operator interface is
expected to address the issues of:
alarm flooding
root cause analysis
multiple interlock categories
safety and security.
Further, the knowledge based system
operator interface must be designed to
address issues of:
capturing operational lore and best
practices from the senior workforce
assisting other plant systems with root
cause analysis
providing the physical location of raised
alarms.
Finally, the most important element of
the advanced alarm management strategy
operator interface is the seamless interoperability it must have between the
alarm/interlock management system, the
knowledge based system, and the base
process control system. In this proposed
approach, the process control system
provides the platform on which the
knowledge base and alarm management
systems are developed. So the challenge
52 ICR SEPTEMBER 2008

is not in the interfacing and intercommunication of the several systems but

rather the operational philosophy and the
development of control strategies that
made use of these systems holistically.
Figure 2 contains the proposed
faceplate set for the advanced alarm
management strategy showing a detailed
bypass and interlock information control
display, the base process control system
operator faceplate display, and the
knowledge base message entry display.
Using this faceplate display set, each
alarm can be linked to a knowledge base
display that is designed to capture the
expertise of experienced operators. Many
of these operators are nearing retirement
age and will be soon be leaving the
company. Embedding their expertise into
the control system makes it possible for
the wisdom they have accumulated to
guide future generations of operators.
One purpose of the knowledge base
display is to help the operator with
detailed corrective actions that have a
high probably of clearing the alarm. For
example, when a motor gives a high amps

alarm, there is a good chance that the

problem is either a bad filter or a bearing
problem. Providing this information to the
operator with the alarm makes it possible
in many cases to check readings from
other instruments in order to investigate
the likely causes. This will help the
operator make a correct decision as to
whether the plant needs to go off rule
based control. This will also save time
on the part of the maintenance team by
reducing or eliminating time required for
troubleshooting.
Figure 3 shows the bypass and interlock
information control display for a single
control loop. Only the root cause incident
and the first affected equipment are
alarmed when a sequence is triggered
to shutdown by a process condition or
equipment to prevent alarm flooding. This
enables the operator to quickly identify
the root cause of the shutdown and take
immediate corrective action. For example,
suppose that the bearing temperature rises
above the high alarm level on a pump
motor. With a conventional alarm system,
this will cascade through the process and
generate a huge number of alarms. With
the new alarm management strategy, the
original alarm is highlighted making it easy
for the operator to identify the root cause.
Only authorised personnel are allowed
to enable, disable, suppressed, or bypass
alarms from the faceplate. Suppressed
alarms are identified on the faceplate by
an icon. The first out fault condition is
tripped to provide additional assistance in
identifying the root cause of the problem.
This is accomplished using the Boolean
Fan Input function block in DeltaV which
traps the first out cause automatically.

Interlock management
strategy
Each equipments interlock condition is
classified into different categories. The
Start category must be met only when
starting the equipment. After start-up the
condition is not significant. An example
is that the damper must be closed
when a fan is started but after the fan
is started the position of the damper is
not important. The Machine interlock
category requires that machine be
satisfied before the interlock is removed.
For example, the main drive should not
operate unless the lubrication system is
working. The Protect interlock category
involves a situation where a condition

PROCESS CONTROL

might cause a problem with equipment.

An example is when the bearing
temperature or vibration level exceeds
acceptable limits. The Remote category
involves equipment that cannot run until
a condition has been satisfied on other
equipment that is not directly associated
in the same process. An example is that
the diverter gates must be in the proper
position before starting the kiln feed
system. The Process category involves
process equipment organised in a cascade
so that when the upstream equipment
shuts down all downstream machinery
must also shut down.
Codes on the faceplate help the
operator easily identify the type of
interlock and the managing security
level for the interlock bypass. The
control system tracks the interlock
sequence to determine the root cause.
The operator can also bypass a flood of
Process category alarms by switching
from cascade mode to auto mode to
inhibit these alarms. DeltaV allows each
class of interlock to have up to four
individual interlock conditions associated
and up to 24 maximum interlocks per
equipment. The status of the interlock/
fault condition is animated with the
colour green indicating OK and the
colour red showing the fault state. This
provides an advance indication to the
operator of when the interlock bypass
can be removed because the equipment
has reached the ready condition. The
active interlock class is indicated with
a red arrow mark highlighted to gain
the operators immediate attention. The
process sequence has all of the interlock
conditions displayed for quick status
indication of the equipment in sequence.
The sequence drive has a hold button for
the operator to control the progression
of the sequence one step at a time. The
interlock conditions are logically enabled
or disabled based on the process condition
or equipment status based on the process
interlock parameter.

Bypass strategy
Interlocks and alarms can only be
bypassed by authorised personnel.
The bypassed signal or interlock is
highlighted in the process sequence. A
maintenance bypass feature is provided
for quick testing and troubleshooting by a
technician. For example, suppose a drive
is tripping even though it is receiving
54 ICR SEPTEMBER 2008

Figure 4: help screen provides guide to operators

power. The operator uses this bypass to

release interlocks and enable maintenance
personnel to operate the motor on-site.
This type of bypass is highlighted on
the control panel with a special symbol
to make it obvious that the bypass
needs to be removed after the motor is
fixed. A drive bypass feature is used to
manage equipment which operates only
on a seasonal basis. For example, a coal
dust handling system which does not
run during the winter can be bypassed
using this feature. When any discrete
or analogue parameters state or value
is bypassed, all of the instances where
the same signal interlock is used will
automatically be bypassed. For example,
if a pressure switch used as an interlock
in five separate locations is faulty and
the decision is made to bypass it, all five
locations will be bypassed. The operator
also has the option of bypassing the
interlock at the individual equipment level
in which case only that single interlock will
be bypassed.

Role of advanced process

control system
An advanced process control system
such as the DeltaV digital automation
system provides the functionality needed
to develop cement industry specific
solutions such as integrated alarms,
interlock management and knowledge
base systems. A rich set of object oriented
control modules reduces what formerly
took pages of ladder logic to engineer
into a simple drag and drop configuration
activity. Function block diagrams are
used to read in or send parameters
to the physical devices and to create
control strategies such as PID and motor
control loops. These same function block

diagrams are used to create an integrated

alarm/interlock management and
knowledge based system described in this
article. In addition, other standard control
modules in the standard set allow easy
implementation of such advanced control
strategies as fuzzy logic, neural networks,
and model predictive control algorithms.
Other features include learning algorithms
embedded in each controller to calculate
process models and diagnostics for every
control loop in the system. These models
and diagnostics are used for intelligent
performance monitoring and adaptive
tuning to accurately identify problems
and recommend tuning improvements.
These process models are stored in a
database for cement industry users to
evaluate performance over time and to
identify potential process non-linearities
and degradations, such as kiln coating,
precalciner build up, and the gradual
fouling of oxygen sensors.

Conclusion
This article proposes an intelligent,
cement-specific, alarm and interlock
management system that is seamlessly
integrated with the process control system
and can be implemented with legacy
sensor networks. This control system
expands the cement plants capability
to dynamically optimise its processes to
improve quality, increase throughput
and reduce operating costs. The process
control system provides the platform on
which the knowledge base and alarm
management systems are developed,
simplifying the task of interfacing and
inter-communications and enabling
the development process to focus on
operational philosophy and control and
alarm management strategies. _______ I