Alarm Management System Using Time to Manage Value
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current industrial alarm systems are overwhelmed by frequent alarms, causing operators to lose effectiveness in managing process upsets, and often fail to effectively alert operators to true abnormal situations in a timely manner.
Innovation Solution
An integrated alarm management system that calculates a 'time to manage value' by multiplying the rate of change of an operating parameter by a time to manage value, then subtracts or adds this product from a trouble point value to determine alarm activation, allowing for timely notification and prevention of devices from reaching critical conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional alarm systems monitor all process measurements with alarm limits, then process safety is improved, but alarm frequency increases causing operator overload
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculation of the time to manage value using the formula TTMV = (TPV - Current Value) / Rate of Change before an alarm condition occurs. This allows the system to predict when a parameter will reach its trouble point and provide advance warning, enabling operators to take preventive action before alarm overload occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the alarm activation parameter from a simple threshold-based alarm to a dynamic alarm that incorporates the calculated time to manage value. By using TTMV as the activation criterion, the system transforms static alarm limits into dynamic, time-based thresholds that adapt to current process conditions and rates of change.
2Device complexity
If a single alert is used for all abnormal situations, then system complexity is reduced, but response time increases as operators must detect and diagnose each situation
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides continuous feedback to operators by calculating and displaying the time to manage value for each monitored parameter. This feedback mechanism gives operators immediate information about how much time they have to respond to potential abnormal situations, eliminating the need for manual detection and diagnosis while maintaining simple alert presentation.
3Measurement precision
If alarm limits are set close to normal operating values, then sensitivity to abnormal conditions is improved, but false alarm frequency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system makes alarm activation dynamic by incorporating the rate of change and time to manage value calculations. Instead of using fixed static thresholds, the alarm system adapts its sensitivity based on how quickly parameters are changing, allowing close monitoring of normal operations while filtering out false alarms that would occur with static thresholds.
Data Source
AI summary
The present embodiments generally relate to an alarm management system for providing a time to manage value enabling a user to respond to an abnormal situation for at least one device and prevent the at least one device from reaching a trouble point value.