HMI/Operator perspective

Hello,

I'm developing a new HMI which the operators need to turn around 180 degrees to view the display. Is there a standard on how I should lay out the "layout" of the equipment on the display? Should I mirror it left to right, or right to left? Are there any standards for this? I'm confusing myself the more I think about it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Any of our machines that can be seen from multiple perspectives usually have birdseye view from the CAD

It all depends on the site or machine convention. Every screen needs to be consistent, and then an operator can learn where to look for the information.


Assuming a US based machine, or country with left to right writing, you could use the following convention:
Input feeds : Stuff in the middle of the machine : Output feeds

I did an application like this one time.
I made it mirror the machine.
The operators liked it that way.

Thanks for chiming in! It's been a long night. I have a conveyor, that when you look at it, it runs left to right. There is an existing HMI set up so the operators, and myself, need to physically turn around to look at it. As long as everything is clearly labeled I don't think it matters that much, but sometimes, when I need to be on the ball and view everything, it takes me a second to re-orientate myself. I would like to update this HMI, and I'm just wondering if there is a standard, or any one has a preference. Obviously, I'd like to face the HMI toward the line, but that is not possible at the time. Personally, I want it opposite of how it is... which bothers me, because, when I talk with the operators to see if they have a preference, and they give me a 50/50 split. I apologize if I was unclear.

Thanks again!

I've always shown things as if you were looking directly at the equipment from where you would be standing at the HMI. For our projects, the HMI is usually on the front so it hasn't been an issue.

Just my 2 cents. But personally I agree with the above. As if you are turned around looking at it. If it was mirrored I'd be confused when I turned around. Lol

Add my vote to presenting the line on the HMI as if the operator was looking at it. I think he has a mental picture the line when he's looking at the HMI. Since its a conveyor, a big friendly arrow pointing in the direction of product flow might help resolve any confusion.

This is a silly question in the first place! And depending on cycle time and how many times operators have to turn around, it will become an issue of productivity or ergonomic, health and safety. Just Tell maintenance to install a rotatable HMI.

I recently did a pair of packing lines. Both HMIs were in between the lines, facing the HMI screen you could see the equipment for that line behind the HMI. My initial layout had both HMIs with left to right flow (which is very common for process applications). This made one HMI match the equipment arrangement and the second HMI was opposite of the equipment arrangement. It was very quickly apparent that this did not seem right to just about everyone involved and we redid the second HMI with right to left flow and there was much rejoicing.

Having your back to the equipment while looking at the HMI is not ideal. I think we can all agree on that. But in this case I think I would go with the upstream side of the HMI is aligned with the upstream side of the equipment. The idea here is regardless of the orientation of the HMI screen, you know which direction is upstream and downstream. The HMI screen should not contradict this. If there was a mirror running the length of the line, it would not disorient you at all to turn your back on the equipment and see it running in the mirror.

I did one like this recently that wasn't a continuous process with an obvious "flow" direction, it was more like an arrangement of tanks. I chose to go the mirror route and I think it worked out well. But if your process has a flow, it might make more sense to go the other way. Really hard to say.

As it sits

I have the same thing, we went with the as it sits view, so if you were standing to the side of the display and look at both the machine and the display they match.