The ALARMS parameter

A module, area, or user can have many active alarms. The ALARMS parameter helps you to view and manage the five most important active alarms associated with a module, area, or user. The ALARMS parameter is an array parameter with values of 1 through 250. For this reason, the parameter is sometimes referred to as ALARMS[1-250]. The most important alarm is ALARMS[1]. The controller automatically creates an ALARMS parameter for each downloaded module.

Each workstation keeps a list of active alarms that the current user should see and makes the five most important alarms accessible for display through an ALARMS parameter for each plant area and for THISUSER.

The DeltaV system uses the ALARMS parameter associated with the current user to generate the data in the alarm banner. The Alarm Presentation topic describes the alarm banner in more detail. The system uses the ALARMS parameter associated with a module to generate the data in the defined faceplate and in the detail pictures for the module.

The system determines the importance of an alarm by the following criteria:

unacknowledged alarms are more important than acknowledged alarms.
for alarms with equal acknowledgment status, the priority (CRITICAL, WARNING, ADVISORY) determines the importance. CRITICAL is the most important priority. ADVISORY is the least important priority. Alarms can also be assigned the LOG priority. When this happens, all alarm annunciation behavior is suppressed (for example, the alarm no longer appears in the alarm banner, it does not sound the horn, and so on).
for alarms with equal acknowledgment status and equal priorities, the controller uses the timestamp. The most recent alarms are the most important.

The following examples show paths to the ASCII value of the priority for ALARMS parameters associated with the current user, an area, and a module:

THISUSER/ALARMS[1].A_PRI
AREA_A/ALARMS[1].A_PRI
FIC101/ALARMS[1].A_PRI

Note

The alarm field CUALM (current alarm) can be either zero or non-zero (the non-zero value is determined by the alarm type ). When CUALM is zero, the alarm is not active. When CUALM is non-zero, the alarm is active.

The alarm field NALM (new - unacknowledged - alarm) can be either zero (0) or one (1). When NALM is zero, there is no new alarm. When NALM is one, the alarm is new and unacknowledged. When the alarm is acknowledged, the NALM value returns to zero.

The LAALM (latched alarm) field can be either zero or non-zero (the non-zero value is determined by the alarm type). LAALM is a combination of the CUALM and NALM and remains set as long as the alarm condition is active, or the alarm is unacknowledged.

The CV (Current Value) field can be either zero or non-zero and follows the same behavior as LAALM.

The following tables define all the ALARMS parameter fields for modules, areas and users. The Use Example column assumes a Module named FIC101.

The floating point value of module, area, THISUSER, and hardware ALARMS parameter fields CUALM, LAALM, and CV (when it returns a value) is either 0 (zero) or non-zero. Non-zero values are used internally in the DeltaV software and should not be used in configurations. Configurations should evaluate these fields only for zero and non-zero values.

Table: Module ALARMS parameter fields
Field	Use Example	Description	Read/Write	A_ (ASCII)	F_ (FLOATING)
Fields that apply to individual alarms
ATTR	FIC101/ ALARMS[1].A_ATTR	alarm parameter name	R	HI_ALM	N/A
CUALM	FIC101/ALARMS[1].F_CUALM	Current alarm state	R	OK/HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
LAALM	FIC101/ALARMS[1].F_LAALM⁽¹⁾	latched alarm	R	OK/HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
NALM	FIC101/ALARMS[1].F_NALM	new alarm	R	NO/YES	0/1
PRI	FIC101/ALARMS[1].F_PRI	priority	R	CRITICAL, WARNING, ADVISORY, LOG⁽²⁾	3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15⁽³⁾
TIN	FIC101/ ALARMS[1].A_TIN	timestamp when it went into alarm	R	Mon Jun 17, 1997 21:04:05:22	N/A
Fields that apply to all alarms
ENAB	FIC101/ALARMS.F_ENAB	enables or disables all alarms in the module	R/W	N/A	0 (NO) causes all alarm parameters ENAB to be overridden and evaluated as NO. Causes all alarms to be disabled. 1 (YES) is the initial value after download. Writing a 1 after writing a 0 restores the effect of the individual alarm parameter's ENAB setting.
MACK	FIC101/ ALARMS.F_MACK	acknowledges all the alarms in the module	W	N/A	0 (NO) is the initial value after download. 1 (YES) acknowledges all alarm parameters in the next execution cycle and resets to 0.
PRIAD	FIC101/ ALARMS.F_PRIAD	adjusts the priority of all the alarms in the module	R/W	N/A	0 - alarm priorities as configured. 1 - lowers all alarms by 1 priority. For example, if an alarm is configured as a priority 15, a PRIAD value of 2 would reduce its priority to 13.

⁽¹⁾ Information about the five most important alarms in a module is accessed through ALARMS [1-5].

⁽²⁾ These are default priority names.

⁽³⁾ Active alarms that have been suppressed (OPSUP or OOS is 1 ("YES")) also appear in the module's ALARMS parameter, but their priority value is forced to the value 3 ("LOG") so that they will appear only after unsuppressed active alarms.

The following table lists the plant area level ALARMS parameter fields (used to show the top 5 active alarms in current user's operating plant area). The Use Example column assumes a plant area named AREA_A.

Table: Area ALARMS parameter fields
Field	Use Example	Description	A_ (ASCII)	F_ (FLOATING)
CUALM	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].F_CUALM	current alarm state	OK/HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
MODULE	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].A_MODULE	module name	FIC101	N/A
LAALM	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].F_LAALM	latched alarm	OK or HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
CV	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].A_CV	module name (same as the MODULE field)	.../FIC101	N/A
NALM	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].F_NALM	new (unacknowledged)	NO or YES	0 or 1
PRI	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].F_PRI	priority	CRITICAL, WARNING, ADVISORY, or LOG	3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15³
ATTR	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].A_ATTR	mod/param name	FIC101/HI_ALM	N/A
TIN	AREA_A/ALARMS[1].A_TIN	time into alarm	Mon Jun 17, 1997 21:04:05:22	N/A

The following table lists the THISUSER level ALARMS parameter fields (used to show the top 5 active alarms in all of the current user's system-wide operating plant areas):

Table: THISUSER ALARMS parameter fields
Field	Use Example	Description	A_ (ASCII)	F_ (FLOATING)
MODULE	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].A_MODULE	module name	FIC101	N/A
CUALM	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].F_CUALM	current alarm state	OK/HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
LAALM	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].F_LAALM	latched alarm state	OK or HIGH	0 (zero) or non-zero
CV	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].A_CV	module name (same as the MODULE field)	FIC101	N/A
NALM	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].F_NALM	new (unacknowledged)	NO or YES	0 or 1
PRI	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].F_PRI	priority	CRITICAL, WARNING, ADVISORY, or LOG	3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15³
ATTR	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].A_ATTR	mod/param name	FIC101/HI_ALM	N/A
TIN	THISUSER/ALARMS[1].A_TIN	time into alarm	Mon Jun 17, 1997 21:04:05:22	N/A

The following table lists the ALARMS parameter fields for hardware alarms. The Use Example column assumes a node (controller) named Cntr_1.

Hardware alarms are alarms from DeltaV nodes (workstation, I/O, controller and Logic Solver). Hardware alarms are alarms of type ADVISE_ALM, MAINT_ALM, FAILED_ALM, and COMM_ALM. These hardware alarms support ALARMS[1] through ALARMS[5] parameters.

Note

The ALARMS parameter does not concern any other alarms (for example, device alarms) being reported through the node. It is only affecting (displaying or adjusting) the hardware alarm for the node specified.

Table: Hardware ALARMS parameter fields
Field	Use Example	Description	A_ (ASCII)	F_ (FLOATING)
ATTR	Cntr_1/ ALARMS[1].A_ATTR	Hardware alarm parameter name	LO_LO_ALM	N/A
CUALM	Cntr_1/ALARMS[1].F_CUALM	Displays the current hardware alarm word. CUALM is non-zero and displays <alarm word> when the hardware alarm is active.	OK or <alarm word>	0 (zero) or non-zero
LAALM	Cntr_1/ALARMS[1].F_LAALM	Displays the latched hardware alarm word. LAALM is non-zero and displays <alarm word> when the hardware alarm is active or unacknowledged.	OK or <alarm word>	0 (zero) or non-zero
NALM	Cntr_1/ALARMS[1].F_NALM	Displays the new hardware alarm (Yes = unacknowledged). Use to cause blinking on unacknowledged alarms.	NO or YES	0/1
PRI	Cntr_1/ALARMS[1].F_PRI	Displays the priority of the hardware alarm.	WARNING (for example) or empty string if not in alarm.	4...15, 255
TIN	Cntr_1/ ALARMS[1].A_TIN	Displays the time/date of the hardware alarm.	Wed Jun 16, 1999 14:30:15.60 (for example). Display varies by locale.	N/A
Fields that apply to all hardware alarms, EXCEPT COMM_ALM
MACK	Cntr_1/ ALARMS.F_MACK	Acknowledges all of the specific node’s hardware alarms (except COMM_ALM).	N/A	0 (NO) is the initial value after download. 1 (YES) acknowledges the hardware alarms.
ENAB	Cntr_1/ALARMS.F_ENAB	Enables or disables all of the specific node’s hardware alarms (except COMM_ALM). 0 (NO) - alarms disabled. 1 (YES) writing a 1 after writing a 0 enables the hardware alarms.	N/A	1 (YES) is the initial value after download.
PRIAD	Cntr_1/ ALARMS.F_PRIAD	Adjusts the priority of all of the specific node’s hardware alarms (except COMM_ALM). 0 - alarm priorities as configured. 1 - lowers alarms by 1 priority. For example, if an alarm is configured as a priority 15, a PRIAD value of 2 would reduce its priority to 13.	N/A	0, 1,...12