Don't be (too) alarmed
24 Sep 2004
Yokogawa's new AAASuite alarm management system is said to improve operator performance by providing timely notification of only necessary alarms, thereby preventing the problem of alarm 'flooding'.
The software automatically detects typical nuisance alarms and notifies both the alarm causes and the required corrective measures to operators. Typical nuisance alarms such as repeating high/low alarms caused by improper alarm settings and chattering high/low alarms caused by improper PID parameter settings can be detected.
As an added option, AAASuite can store the optimal settings and automatically download the required settings to the control system when a plant startup, shutdown, product grade changeover, or process load change occurs.
AAASuite also automatically prevents the repetition of nuisance alarms that are detected through its detection and diagnostic functions, using the control system's functions. When the process status changes in such a way that unnecessary alarms no longer occur, AAASuite automatically lifts this alarm suppression.
