A little addition to Duc's description. The actions performed by the I/A system in reaction to an alarm are actually configured by the user himself. In a block you have to configure the priority of an alarm as well as the alarm group you are sending it to. These alarm groups range from 1 to 8. The first three are configured in the compound the block resides in and the remaining 5 can be configured in the STATION block of the module (CP, Gateway, etc.) in which the block can be found. The alarmgroups in the compounds can hold up to 8 devices as where the alarmgroups in the STATION block can hold up to 16 different devices. The prefered method differs between users. For devices one should think not only of printers but also the stations (WP's) and historian the alarm should be sent to. And as Duc mentioned you can choose to handle alarms of different priority in a different way. You can configure it any way you want. Your choice... Good luck, Bas van der Velde -----Original Message----- From: duc.do@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duc.do@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 3:53 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [foxboro] Alarm Priorities The following is our alarm set-up in a nutshell (copied from an intranet page). It's been in use for as long as we have had our I/A system here at the Carrollton site (14 years), and it's served us well. YMMV. Hope this helps. Process alarms are classified into 5 distinct priority levels. Urgency of alarms decreases as priority level increases. Level 1 and 2 alarms will sound the horn and send a message to the configured alarm historian and printer. Level 3 and 4 will sound the horn and send a message to the configured alarm historian but not the printer. Level 5 will not sound a horn or send an alarm message to a printer but will send an alarm message to the configured alarm historian. Priority Description 1 Priority 1 is the highest priority and is reserved for emergency shutdown system alarms. 2 This priority is reserved for SPAs, secured process alarms. (The alarms are "secured" by the use of additional REALM blocks and an access scheme based on access classes. An SPA cannot be changed by the operators in the operators' environments.) 3 Not Used 4 This priority level is reserved for Operator Settable Alarms (anything else that's not an SPA above). 5 This priority level is for FBM device and channel status, and out-of-range values. Duc -- Duc M. Do Dow Corning Corp. Carrollton Plant Carrollton, KY, US -----Original Message----- From: Steve Elwart [mailto:steve.elwart@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 8:26 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [foxboro] Alarm Priorities We are in the process of taking another look at our alarm priorities. What is the experience out there with priorities? What have you set up as the levels? What do each mean? thanks! Steven P. Elwart, P.E Director of Systems Engineering Ergon Refining, Inc. 2611 Haining Road Vicksburg, MS 39180-0309 601-638-4960 (O) 601-630-8311 (FAX) ________________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit http://www.messagelabs.com ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html foxboro mailing list: //www.freelists.org/list/foxboro to subscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join to unsubscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave _______________________________________________________________________ This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html foxboro mailing list: //www.freelists.org/list/foxboro to subscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join to unsubscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave