Alarms and Events for FTV questions....

JoseM

Member
Join Date
Jul 2011
Location
Texas
Posts
381
To the experts,

I have a client that is asking me if FTV Studio Edition has the capability to send automatic pages out when certain alarms are triggered.

Also they are asking if PLC program events can be logged. For example when a valve goes from "ON" to "OFF". They will like to have this information to use it during troubleshooting situations.

I'm wondering if Allen Bradley has something that does these two things. Any feedback on programs you guys used in the past is very appreciative.

Jose
 
Those questions highlight one of FactoryTalk View's strengths and one of its weaknesses.

"FactoryTalk Alarms and Events" is a specific feature in FactoryTalk View SE that involves placing the alarm triggering methods in the controller, using ALMD and ALMA (discrete and analog) instructions. The logging of a valve state transition is an example of a Discrete event, and the logging of a value going over or under a setpoint is an example of an Analog event. The PLC sends the event to a listening HMI software service (RSLinx Enterprise's FTAE Subscriber), rather than the HMI polling the controller constantly. This also allows very precise timestamping.

So yes, that's a pretty standard feature. FTView just does it in a more integrated-with-the-controller way than most HMI products do.

Paging and e-mailing of alarms is something that Rockwell Software hasn't ever really gotten into well themselves. RSView32 had a decent Messenger application ten years ago, but for FactoryTalk View SE, Rockwell Software decided to let the best company in the business handle remote alarming, and worked with Specter Instruments to tightly bind Win911 to FactoryTalk Alarms and Events.

Also, using E-Mail to SMS gateways, the controller itself can often do SMS alarming. The ordinary 1756-ENBT module can be used to send ordinary concise e-mails.
 
Thank you for the reply, I surely appreciate the help. Now, I believe the client I'm working with wants to log all events that happen on the controller not just the events that lead to an alarm.

He wants to have a history of all events the controller register where he could go to and see the behavior of an equipment prior to a faulty event.

Is this what you guys are referring too that cane done by using the ALMA and ALMD instructions?

Jose
 
In theory you could write an ALMD for every single input and output in the control system.

In practice, this would be a colossal amount of work, memory, and resources. That's the sort of thing that is the domain of DCS systems priced ten times more, running a hundred times slower.

In my experience, we add trends and traps when we're troubleshooting specific things, not ahead of time to troubleshoot Every Possible Function.

You definitely need to have a talk with this customer about his expectations of the control system.
 

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