Operations Manual

C Appendix C ─ DeltaV Alarm Management

C.1 Introduction
This appendix describes the detail design requirements for the Alarm Management
that will be used throughout all of the DeltaV workstations in this project. This
document is a living document and will be updated as functional requirements are
revised.

C.2 DeltaV Alarm Strategy

The DeltaV system provides a means to identify important state variables whose
changes need to be marked by an event. When alarm parameters are attached to
these state variables, changes can cause an event to be logged or may be used to
provide an audible and/or visible alarm for the operator. The alarms and events are
logged in the Event Chronicle Database. This database resides in the PROPLUS
(EWS) Engineering workstation.

The DeltaV system allows setting of alarm limits on function block parameters that
cause changes in state variables. Customized logic can be configured in control
modules to compute a state variable for combinations of many conditions in the
system. Either can be used to alarm an operator.

The following section refers to alarms generated in function blocks and modules as
process alarms because they are typically triggered by a process change.

The DeltaV system supports the following process alarms:

• predefined (standard) alarms
• custom alarms

Standard alarms consist of HIGH-HIGH, HIGH, LOW-LOW, LOW, DEVIATION

HIGH, and DEVIATION LOW. Standard alarms are only available in function blocks
with built-in alarm state computation.

Custom alarms are supported at the module level. Custom alarms reference existing
parameters or user-defined expressions. A custom alarm can be used as an alarm
for the operator or an event to be logged.

Plant areas, alarm priorities, alarm types, and alarm states all affect the way the
system manages individual alarms.

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C.3 Plant Areas

Each DeltaV control module is associated with a single plant area. Any module or
device that has an alarm, reports it to all workstations to which the module’s area is
assigned, as long as the workstations’ Alarms and Events subsystems have been
enabled. A workstation monitors (logs to the Event Chronicle) all events in the
system that are associated with the plant areas assigned to it.

A maximum of 100 plant areas can be configured for the DeltaV system. These plant
areas will have to be assigned to specific workstations.

There will be one Plant Area (in Delta V Explorer) for each OFCC plant Unit.

C.3.1 DeltaV Areas for Oman Formaldehyde

The following table gives a list of Areas for OFCC and the workstations to which they
are assigned:

Table C-1 Oman Formaldehyde Plant Area

Plant Area Description Assigned Workstations

Area_10 EWS & OWS_01
Area_30 EWS & OWS_01
Area_40 EWS & OWS_01
Area_50 EWS & OWS_01
Area_60 EWS & OWS_01
Area_80 EWS & OWS_01
Area_A System Function EWS & OWS_01

C.3.2 Alarm Priorities

Alarm priorities contain the alarm priorities in the system and it indicate to the
operator the importance of an alarm. The priority affects the order in which alarms
appear in the Alarm Banner and the Alarm List pictures in the operator’s interface.

There are 12 possible alarm priority levels: numeric values 4 through 15 plus a
special log only priority level (value 3). The highest priority value is 15 (it is used for
the most important alarms). The lowest priority value is 4.

Events with Log priority (level value 3) are not considered alarms. The Log priority is
used to designate an event that is important enough to be recorded in the Event
Chronicle but is not something the operator needs to be aware of. Events with Log
priority are not displayed in the Alarm Banner and the Alarm List links and do not turn
on the alarm horn.

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The following table gives a list of the Alarm priorities and the corresponding colors
that will be used.

Table C-2 OFCC Alarm Priorities

Alarm Priority DeltaV DeltaV Color Description Horn Sound file

Name Priority
Safety 15 Red Safety Alarm AlrmHigh.wav
Warning 14 Magenta Fredisk Alarm AlrmHigh.wav
Critical_IO 13 Bright Red Critical IO Alarm Buzz.wav
High 12 Bright Red High Alarm AlrmHigh.wav
Low 11 Bright Yellow LOW Alarm AlrmLow.wav
Diagnostics 9 Bright Yellow System Diagnostics BEEP.wav
Alarm
Bad_IO 8 BrightMagenta Bad_IO Alert_tone.wav
Advisory 7 Bright Blue Advisory Alarm None
Log 3 Bright Blue Log Alarm None

C.3.3 Alarm States

All alarms in the DeltaV system have six potential states. Any time the state of an
alarm changes, the system updates the alarm’s information in the operator’s
interface and generates an alarm state change event that can be recorded in the
Event Chronicles.

The following table gives a list of the six potential Alarm states.

Table C-3 Alarm States

Alarm States
Disabled
Suppressed
Inactive acknowledged
Inactive unacknowledged
Active acknowledged
Active unacknowledged

C.3.4 Alarm Types

An alarm type defines a set of characteristics that determine how alarms appear on
displays and in the Event Chronicle. The alarm types to be used in this project are
standard DeltaV alarm types and are listed below. Each standard alarm is associated
with one of these alarm types. Alarm type names are case-sensitive.

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A single alarm type can be assigned to several alarms to give them the same display
characteristics. The type determines the alarm word and alarm message. The type
also determines a category. Categories can be used for sorting alarms in the Event
Chronicle.

The following table gives a list of Alarm Types that shall be used.

Table C-4 Oman Formaldehyde Alarm Types

Alarm Type Name Alarm Word Category Alarm Message

Adapt Alarm Active ADAPT INSTRUMENT Adapt Alarm Active %P1
Alarm ALARM PROCESS %P1
Any Alarm ANY SYSTEM Any Alarm Value %P1
Bypass Active BYPASS PROCESS Bypass Active
Bypass Initiated BYPASS PROCESS Bypass Initiated
Calibration CALIBRATION INSTRUMENT In Calibration State
Change From Normal CFN PROCESS Change From Normal Value %P1
Change of State COS PROCESS Change of State
Close Alarm CLOSED PROCESS Device Closed
Comm Link Failure Comm Link Failure SYSTEM %P1
Communication Error COMM INSTRUMENT Communication Error
Critical CRITICAL PROCESS Critical Alarm
Deviation Alarm DEV PROCESS Deviation Alarm Target %P1
Actual %P2
Device Fault FAULT INSTRUMENT Device Fault
Diagnostic DIAGNOSTICS SYSTEM %P1 : %P2
Discrepancy alarm DISCREPANCY PROCESS %P1 : %P2
Discrete Device FAILED PROCESS %P1
Esd ESD PROCESS ESD Active
Floating Point Error FLT SYSTEM Floating Point Error
General I/O Failure IOF INSTRUMENT General I/O Failure
Hi Hi Hi Alarm HIHIHI PROCESS Hi Hi Hi Alarm Value %P1
Limit %P2
High Alarm HIGH PROCESS High Alarm Value %P
Limit %P2
High High Alarm HIHI PROCESS High High Alarm Value %P1
Limit %P2
Inspect Limit Active INSPECT INSTRUMENT Inspect Limit Active%P1
Lo Lo Lo Alarm LOLOLO PROCESS Lo Lo Lo Alarm Value %P1
Limit %P2
Local Alarm LOCAL PROCESS Equipment in Local

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Alarm Type Name Alarm Word Category Alarm Message

Low Alarm LOW PROCESS Low Alarm Value %P1
Limit %P2
Low Low Alarm LOLO PROCESS Low Low Alarm Value %P1
Limit %P2
Mode Mismatch MISMATCH PROCESS DCS/Local Mode Mismatch
Motor Change of State COS PROCESS Motor Change of State to %P1
New Alarm NEW SYSTEM New Alarm Value %P1
Not Auto Alarm NAUTO PROCESS Equipment Not In Auto
Not Close Alarm NCLOSED PROCESS Device Not Closed
Not Open Alarm NOPEN PROCESS Device Not Open
Open alarm OPEN PROCESS Device Open
Open Circuit Detected OCD INSTRUMENT Open Circuit Detected
Out of Service OOS PROCESS Equipment %P1 Out of Service
Over Range OVER INSTRUMENT Over Range Value %P1
Power Fault POWER FAULT SYSTEM Check Power Supply
Rate Of Change RATE PROCESS Rate of Change Rate %P1 Limit
%P2
Run alarm RUNNING PROCESS Equipment Running
Start Alarm STARTED PROCESS Equipment Started
Statistical Alarm ERROR SYSTEM Statistical Alarm Type %P1 Value
%P2
Stop Alarm STOPPED PROCESS Equipment Stopped
Timeout Alarm TIMEOUT PROCESS Timer has Timed-Out: %P1 %P2
Totalizer Alarm TOTALIZER PROCESS Totalizer Tripped
Trip Alarm TRIP PROCESS Equipment Tripped
Under Range UNDER INSTRUMENT Under Range Value %P1
Wait alarm WAIT INSTRUMENT %P1

C.3.5 Alarm Importance

The acknowledged status of the alarm, the current alarm state, the priority value, and
the time stamp on the alarm determine the alarm's importance in the system:

• Unacknowledged alarms have a higher importance than acknowledged

alarms.
• After the acknowledgement status is considered, alarms that are still active
are considered more important than alarms that have already cleared but
have not been acknowledged by the operator yet.
• When more than one alarm has the same acknowledgment status and active
status, alarms with larger priority values have the highest importance.

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• When more than one alarm has the same priority value, active status, and
acknowledgment status, the newer alarm has a higher importance.

For example, consider a situation where the most recent, acknowledged, active
alarm with a priority value of 15 is the most important alarm in the system. Then, a
new alarm occurs that is unacknowledged and has a priority value of 9. This new
alarm is of higher importance than an acknowledged alarm with a priority value of 15
because of the acknowledgement status of the alarms.

The importance of an alarm determines its position in the DeltaV Alarm List.

C.3.6 Alarm Presentation

The alarm priority and current alarm state determine many of the presentation
characteristics for an alarm. The following sections describe the components of the
interface application that operators in the OFCC Plant will use to manage alarms.

C.3.6.1 Alarm Banner

The Alarm Banner is in the lower section of the screen in the operator's interface. It
provides buttons for the five most important alarms monitored by this workstation for
the current DeltaV user. The Alarm Banner enables the operator to focus on the
most important alarms first. Any alarms of a priority (typically lower priority alarms)
not shown in the alarm banner do not sound the horn on that workstation.

Figure C-1 Alarm Banner

1 2 3 11 12 13

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 14 15

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Table C-5 Alarm Banner Legend

Figure No. Description

1. Module having the highest priority alarm
2. Module having the second highest priority alarm
3. Click to get extended information of an alarm
4. Alarm time stamp
5. Alarm module description
6. Parameter in alarm of module
7. Alarm word
8. Alarm priority
9. Calls up the faceplate of the module
10. Calls up the Primary control display of the module
11. Acknowledge alarm, acknowledges all the unacknowledged alarms in the main
process graphic
12. This button stops the horn. If new alarms become active, the horn sounds again.
13. Disable Horn/Enable Horn. When disabled, new alarms do not cause the horn to
sound. This setting is a parameter of the current user's session. When a new user
logs on, the horn is enabled.
14. Clicking this Node Status button launches the Node Status picture, which provides
information on the node (for example, current status and time of last status change
or download as well as whether or not node alarms have been acknowledged).
15. This shows the Communications status. The button displays two indicators for the
Primary Communications network and four indicators for the Secondary
Communications network. Clicking the Diagnostics button launches diagnostics,
which provides more detailed information.

C.3.7 Alarm List

The Alarm list picture displays a maximum of 250 active alarms in Plant Areas within
the Operator’s span of control.

Figure C-2 Alarm List

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The Alarm List picture can be opened from the DeltaV Operate toolbar. This picture
shows the total number of active alarms, the number of unacknowledged and
suppressed alarms for the current area, and lists active alarms by:
• Ack - The acknowledged status. An alarm can be acknowledged from this list
clicking the Ack column for the alarm. A tick mark ( √ ) indicates that the
alarm is acknowledged and a box (  ) indicates that the alarm is
unacknowledged.
• Time In - The time at which the alarm went active. If the alarm is active when
a controller switchover occurs, the alarm is regenerated with a new time
stamp.
• Unit - The name of the unit that owns the module that is in alarm.
• Module/Parameter - The name of the module that contains the alarm and the
active alarm.
• Description - Description of the module.
• Alarm - a word such as HIHI (High High Alarm) or CFN (Change from
Normal) that appears when the alarm is active. The alarm word is a
characteristic of the alarm type.
• Message - A message associated with the alarm. The format of the alarm
message is determined by the alarm type. The values in the alarm message
are represented by user-defined parameters.
• Priority – Safety, Critical or Warning priority that indicates the importance of
an event to the operator and the priority of the alarm at the workstation. The
priority affects the order in which the alarm appears in this picture and in the
Alarm Banner.

C.3.7.1 Area Alarm Filter

The Alarm Filter pictures enable operators to turn on the areas from which they want
to see alarms and to turn off the areas from which they do not want to see alarms.
This allows the Operator to filter alarms in up to 100 areas in the DeltaV system.

Alarm filtering only affects what the operator sees through the Operator Interface. It
does not affect the event chronicle database, or the associations between
workstations, users, and alarms that are defined in the DeltaV Explorer or the area
keys assigned in the User Manager.

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Figure C-3 Alarm Area Filter

The Alarm Filter picture can be used to filter alarms in up to 100 areas in the DeltaV
system in the following steps:
• Check the box next to an area to display that area's alarms in the Alarm
Banner, the Alarm List picture, the Alarm Suppress picture.
• Clear the check box to filter alarms by preventing that area's alarms from
displaying in the Alarm Banner, the Alarm List, the Alarm Suppress, and the
Alarm Filter pictures.
• Click the All On button to see alarms from all areas that can be turned on.
Click the All Off button to filter (that is, to prevent from displaying) alarms from
all areas.
• Click an alarm area to see detailed information (for example, time of alarm,
module, description, parameter, alarm description, and message) on the
alarms for that area.
• Click the Description column in the detailed information area to open the
Faceplate picture, the Primary Control picture, or both pictures for that
module.

The total count of unacknowledged alarms, active alarms, and suppressed alarms for
an area that is checked is displayed next to the plant area name. The total number of
alarms, the number of unacknowledged alarms, and the number of suppressed
alarms are shown across the top of the area alarm details section.

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C.4 Global Horn Acknowledgement

When an alarm is silenced on one workstation, it is automatically silenced on all
workstation configured to participate in the Global Horn Acknowledge.

C.5 DeltaV Alarm Time Stamp

DeltaV System uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize the time on all
Control Network nodes. Any DeltaV workstation may be defined as the master time
server source using the Physical Network Properties dialog in the DeltaV Explorer.

The ProfessionalPLUS (EWS) shall be used as the Master Time Server source. The
Set/Synchronize Network Time program (available from the Tools menu in DeltaV
Explorer) determines the time and date for the DeltaV System.

The alarms in the Alarm list and the Event chronicle will use this time for displaying
their time of occurrence.

The time stamp for every alarm in the Current Alarm list will be of the format
“mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss”.

The time stamp for every alarm in the Event chronicle will be of the format “mm/dd/yy
hh:mm: ss:ms” where ‘ms’ is milliseconds.

The Alarm List will show the alarms in order of their importance as detailed in section
C.3.7 above. The event chronicle will however show the alarms and events in order
of their occurrence.

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