Creating and Configuring Alarms

EcoStruxure Building Operation 2.0

EcoBuilding Training Academy
Alarm Types
Alarm type Creates alarms for…
Change of State Alarm Digital variables

Multistate Alarm Integer variables

Matching Text String Alarm Text variables

Out of Range Alarm Low/high limits on variables

Out of Reference Range Alarm Difference between a variable and a setvalue

Sum Alarm If one in a group of alarms are active

Enumeration Alarm Enumerated variables

Variable Status Alarm Forced or overridden variables

System Information Alarms Messages from the server

BACnet Alarm BACnet devices

Alarm States

1. Normal 4. Reset
• The variable does not meet the configured • The variable HAS returned to normal
alarm condition(s) condition(s) but has NOT been
acknowledged
• This state does not appear in the Alarm
View 5. Acknowledged
2. Alarm • The variable has NOT returned to normal
condition(s) but HAS been acknowledged
• The variable meets the configured alarm
condition(s) 6. Fault
3. Disabled • Only available in BACnet alarms.
• Can be used when the alarm is occurring • Result of BACnet device reporting that the
because of faulty conditions or maintenance monitored value is not reliable.
• Hidden in the Alarm View
Alarm Functions

Categories Notifications
• Category • Alarm information is sent to email or a text file
‒ Group alarms together in categories to simplify ‒ Substitution codes can be used (see manual for
identification list)
• Category 2 • No printer notification
‒ Used to filter alarms in Enterprise Central (EC) Automatic Assignment
User Action • Triggered alarms can be automatically
assigned to a specific user or user group most
• Comments, action notes, checklists suited to correct the problem
Alarm Functions (cont.)

Shunt variable Alarm Messages

• Binary value that works as an on/off switch for • User defined message that displays in the
the alarm (not available in BACnet alarms) Alarm and Event Views when an alarm is
triggered or reset
Time delay
Priority
• Delay the alarm trigger and reset states
(defined in seconds) • Used to identify the “importance” of an alarm
• Used to prevent unintentional activation- • “grouping” of alarms – no speed of delivery
deactivation cycles difference
Deadband
• Area of the alarm range where no reset action
occurs
• Used to prevent unintentional activation-
deactivation cycles
Sum Alarm

• Collection of Alarms that

have one or several
common denominators
Variable Status Alarm

• Triggers when the

monitored variable is
“forced” or “overridden”
System Information Alarm

Monitor system processes, such as:

• Server online status
• Field device online status
• Email success
• Etc.

• Generated by EcoStruxture Building Operation, not manually created

Alarm Message Customization

Alarm messages can be written as desired

Substitution codes can be used

• @(F) – path of monitored variable
• @(O) – monitored object name
• @(V) – monitored property value
• Ex. The room temperature is too cold. The temperature is @(V) °C
= The room temperature is too cold. The temperature is 17 °C.
Acknowledgement Types

Single Acknowledgment
• Required to acknowledge the alarm once, either in alarm state or reset state
No Acknowledgement
• Alarm immediately returns to normal state when problem is remedied
Extended Acknowledgment
• Always required to acknowledge the alarm in the reset state before it will go back to normal
• Possible acknowledge the alarm in alarm state, too.
User Actions

Alarm Handling Functions

• Action notes
• Categories
• Cause notes
• Checklists
• Decoration
• Styling

Configured from Control Panel

 Notifications
Triggering Notifications

In addition to alarms, notifications can be triggered by:

• Schedules
• Program Output
• Digital Values

This functionality can be used as a light-weight, simple reporting system where it is not possible or
practical to use the full Building Operation Report Server.
 Notifications
Notification Content

With this new feature, fewer new notifications will

need to be created as they include trend log and point
value data from any part of the system.
In addition, editing notifications is easier as the
Notification Report Template supports:
• Keywords and substitution code display
• Drag and Drop selection
• Keyword completion assistance
Date and time stamps can also now be freely
formatted.
Notifications distribution methods

• Client – Information via system tray popup in WorkStation / Microsoft Windows

• Email - Sends email using the SMTP protocol via predefined SMTP server. You can now specify
encrypted email formats (TLS or SSL) and define the port in email settings for the Enterprise Server
or Automation Server.

• Write to file - The files are stored in a predefined folder and can be accessed in the ’Notification Files’
sub-folder in the ’System’ folder in the System tree of the WorkStation for both Enterprise Servers
and Automation Servers.

• SNMP - Suitable for IT departments collecting alarms

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Example - Alarm Triggered Notification

Client
message

Text
Alarm Alarm Write to
Triggered File
Notification
Notification Report
Report HTML
Alarm (@Report) Templates
Alarm
Filter
Email
Alarm CSV

SNMP
Schedule
Emailing Alarms

• Requires a Notification object

• The Enterprise Server must be

configured for sending email
Event View

• Event Views display historic

information for any object or
variable in the database

• Can view historic alarm

occurrences from Event Views

• Alarm Event information:

• Trigger timestamp
• Value before/after
• User information
• Action/cause/comments
• Etc.
BACnet Alarms in MP series controllers

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BACnet Alarms in MP-C

The BACnet alarm in MP-C consists of two objects:

• BACnet Alarm
– Defines the triggering of the Alarm
• Notification Class
– Defines the presentation, priority and acknowlegement ot the alarm

Note
The BACnet standard defines the priority levels for alarms
Alarm and Event Priority Network priority
01 - 63 Life Safety message
64 - 127 Critical Equipment message
128 - 191 Urgent message
192 - 255 Normal message
BACnet Alarms

IP Network

Alarms are configured as a

separate BACnet Alarm
object.
MP-C
Monitored variable can be
selected from all BACnet Notification
objects in the database.

BACnet Alarm

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BACnet Alarm Types

Change of state
The change of state alarm monitors the state changes of digital variables. You
configure the alarm to trigger when the variable changes its state to true or to
false.

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BACnet Alarm Types

Out of range
When setting up an out of range alarm, you configure the normal range of the
monitored variable. If the variable goes below the lower limit or above the
upper limit of the normal range, the alarm is triggered.

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BACnet Alarm Types

Buffer Ready
A buffer ready alarm is triggered when the number of records as specified by
the Notification threshold property has been entered in a BACnet Trend Log
since trending first started, or a BACnet notification had been sent.

This alarm is used for Extended Trend Logs in AS-P or Enterprise Serverthat
are connected to a BACnet trend Log in the MP controllers

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 BACnet Notification class

• Notifications can be sent to other BACnet

devices. Once the device/s resides in the
Devices Recipients List.
• The Process Identifier is a device dependent
option and not all BACnet vendors may support
this option. SmartStruxure does not support this
feature.
• Time settings can help create several
notifications specific to work hours and work
week

Default alarm Recipient

.

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 BACnet Notification class

• It is not required to acknowledge ’to-normal’

transition for BACnet alarms.
• If you turn off the ‘to-normal’ transition for the
BACnet alarms that belong to this alarm
notification, will go to the ’Normal’ state will
disappear from the alarm list.

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How to shunt a BACnet alarm
Example: Shunt an alarm using a Digital BACnet Schedule
BACnet Alarm

Binding Shunt varable

BACnet Digital Schedule

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How to shunt a BACnet alarm
Example: Shunt an alarm using a Digital BACnet Schedule

Shunt active
Red traffic light
indication

Alarm tripped

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How to shunt a BACnet alarm
Example: Shunt an alarm using a Digital BACnet Schedule

Shunt inactive
Green traffic
light indication

Alarm appears in Alarm list

Schedule event set to inactive

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