Alarm priorities indicate to the operator the importance of an alarm. The priority affects the order in which alarms appear in the Alarm Banner and the Alarm List pictures in DeltaV Operate.
The system presents all alarms that you configure with the same alarm priority the same way throughout the system. If you modify the definition of a particular alarm priority, all alarms configured using that alarm priority will use the new definition.
There are 12 possible alarm priority levels: numeric values 4 through 15 plus a special log only priority level (value 3). The highest priority value is 15 (it is used for the most important alarms).The lowest priority value is 4.
DeltaV systems prior to release 5.x used a priority system with three alarm priority levels plus the special log only priority level (value 3):
For backward compatibility, version 5.x no longer uses priority levels 0,1 and 2 in new configurations but will automatically convert those old priority levels into one of the new levels (4-15).
Events with Log priority (level value 3) are not considered alarms. Use the Log priority to designate an event that is important enough to be recorded in the Event Chronicle but is not something the operator needs to be aware of. Events with Log priority are not displayed in the Alarm Banner and the Alarm List links and do not turn on the alarm horn.
By default, only four of the 12 (plus Log) priority levels are available for configuring alarm parameters in the system:
| Level value | Alarm priority name | Auto acknowledged | Auto ack inactive | Horn sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
15 |
CRITICAL |
No |
No |
WSA-High ©2010HCS.wav |
|
11 |
WARNING |
No |
No |
WSA-Medium ©2010HCS.wav |
|
7 |
ADVISORY |
Yes |
No |
WSA-Low ©2010HCS.wav |
|
3 |
LOG |
Yes |
No |
none |
If you are using DeltaV Live, and you modify an alarm priority label (name) in DeltaV Explorer, then you must manually modify the label’s corresponding Graphics Studio standard. For example, if the priority label, CRITICAL, is changed to SEVERE, then the value for the Graphics Studio standard, S_AlarmPriority15, must be manually changed from CRITICAL to SEVERE.
Similarly, if you add a new label to an alarm priority level in DeltaV Explorer, then you must modify the label’s corresponding Graphics Studio standard. For example, if you add the new label, NOT-SO-BAD, to priority level 6, then you must manually enter NOT-SO-BAD as the value for the Graphics Studio standard, S_AlarmPriority06.
The acknowledged status of the alarm, the current alarm state, the priority value, and the timestamp on the alarm determine the alarm's importance in the system. Alarms with the larger priority values have the higher importance.
The alarm priority properties include the following:
Determines the priority value of the alarm priority. The higher the number, the greater the importance of the alarm.
Determines if alarms of this priority are automatically acknowledged at the time of alarm detection. The acknowledgment state of an alarm can affect flashing and the order in which alarms are presented in DeltaV Operate.
Determines if alarms of this priority are automatically acknowledged when the condition causing the alarm clears. This means that the alarm would no longer be shown in the Alarm Banner or Alarm List pictures even if the operator never acknowledged the alarm.
Determines when alarms of this priority are displayed in the Alarm Banner. The choices are Not Hidden, Unit, and Module. Not Hidden specifies that active alarms of this priority are always shown in the Alarm Banner identified by its module (or device) name. The Module selection specifies that alarms of this priority should be identified by their module names and are not shown in the Alarm Banner if there is a more important alarm in Alarm Banner already showing this module name (the module would be identified at most once in the Alarm Banner). The Unit selection specifies that alarms of this priority should be identified by the name of the unit associated with this module, and these alarms are not shown in the Alarm Banner if there is a more important alarm in Alarm Banner already showing this the name of this unit (the unit would be identified, at most, once in the Alarm Banner).
Determines the sound associated with active alarms of this priority. When an alarm goes into the active state, the system plays a WAV file in a loop-back mode so that it sounds until the operator acknowledges the horn. You can disable the sound for alarms of a certain priority by deleting the WAV file reference. Alarms that are auto-acknowledged still play their wave files.
Files that include the string, ©2009HCS and ©2010HCS, are licensed for use by the system owner and are subject to the end-user System Software License Agreement. These HCS Alarm Sounds for Multi-Console Control Rooms™ represent third-party licensed content furnished with the system and are owned by Human Centered Solutions, LLP (www.applyHCS.com).
HCS Alarm Sounds for Multi-Console Control Rooms™ simultaneously differentiate between console locations as well as alarm priority and have been designed using effective human factors principles with respect to human audition and hearing. There are two collections of sounds for high, medium, and low priority alarms; WSA and WSB. These are easily distinguishable from one another, which enables you to provide differentiation between two workstations near each other.
WSA-High ©2010HCS.wav, WSA-Medium ©2010HCS.wav, and WSA-Low ©2010HCS.wav files are specifically designed as the default selections for critical, warning, and advisory priority alarm sounds on a first workstation. For a second workstation in the same control room, WSB-High ©2010HCS.wav, WSB-Medium ©2010HCS.wav, and WSB-Low ©2010HCS.wav files can be used. New users are encouraged to use the ©2010HCS collection. The ©2009HCS collection, whose sounds are referred to as WS1 and WS2, is still available in the case of system migration in order to sustain continuity. Contact your local Emerson sales office or business partner for more information.
Alarms can be optionally configured not to sound for all acknowledged new alarms of any type, in compliance with ISA-18.2. In new systems, this option is enabled by default. When migrating, this option is not enabled by default and current alarm behavior remains the same.