Rockwell Automation Library: Is Val_Notify of P_Alarm working correctly?

[AREDA]

Hi All,
I'm planning to use Rockwell Library, and I am testing the P_AIn block and P_Alarm block for the alarming functionality.
I think the behavior I'm facing is not what it should be. Here are the values of the Val_Notify from the manual:
"
Current alarm level and acknowledgement (enumeration):
0 = No alarm
1 = Alarm cleared: a reset or acknowledge is required
2 = Low (acknowledged)
3 = Low (unacknowledged)
4 = Medium (acknowledged)
5 = Medium (unacknowledged)
6 = High (acknowledged)
7 = High (unacknowledged)
8 = Urgent (acknowledged)
9 = Urgent (unacknowledged)
"

Here is my test case:

Configure Reset & Acknowledge as "required", and Cfg_Exists =1. Set severity in the range of "High" priority (750). <<Same happens with other priorities anyway>>

Sequence:

1- No alarm input and Val_Notfy is 0 (all clear)

2- Set "Inp" alarm = 1 > Val_Notify changes to 7 (High, unacknowledged)

3- Send a pulse to PCmd_Ack > Val_Notify changes to 6 (High, acknowledged)

4- "Inp" alarm returns to normal = 0 > Val_Notify changes back to 7 (High, unacknowledged) ### Shouldn't this go to 1 (Alarm cleared, requiring ack or reset)?

5- Send a pulse to PCmd_Ack > Val_Notify stays 7 (High, unacknowledged)!

6- Send a pulse to Inp_Reset > Val_Notify changes to 0 (all clear)

 

[AREDA]

My comments are:
1- I think according to current Val_Notify behavior, "1" will only happen if a) Reset not required and b)Alarm return to normal and only requires an acknowledgement to go to 0. In which case, the description of "1 = Alarm cleared; a reset or acknowledge is required" is not correct and should not mention about reset.
2- To get it to work as I expect (when both Ack & reset are configured required), the AOI logic needs to be modified @rung 21 so that 'XIC alm' is added next to 'XIC Wrk_Alm' so that the Severity/Priority bits are not set when the source alarm isn't active (albeit a reset is required, that's the purpose of Val_Notify 1)

 

[AREDA]

Update: The NOTE from the AOI Logic says:
"NOTE that the alarm bell icon will blink, even though the alarm is Acknowledged, if an Alarm Reset is required (to get the Operator's attention)."

So looks like it is the intended design to behave this way. Not good for my usage as we don't use FTV for HMI unfortunately, so we'll have to work around this.