Alarm Suppression by Plant State in Technical Control Rooms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control systems for technical plants fail to efficiently manage alarms and related documents during varying operational states, leading to operator distraction and reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A control system that selectively deactivates alarm messages and related documents based on predefined conditions, ensuring only essential information is displayed to operators, using a computer-implemented alarm system that integrates with an Engineering Station Server and Operator Station Server to manage plant states and document access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If alarm management system displays all alarm messages and related documents during all plant states, then operators have complete information access, but operator efficiency decreases due to distraction from unnecessary alarms
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-configures alarm suppression rules and document accessibility restrictions for different plant states during the engineering phase. When a plant state is detected, the system automatically applies the pre-defined suppression rules without requiring real-time operator configuration, thus resolving the contradiction by having the right information availability strategy ready in advance for each operational context
Solution Approach 2:
The alarm management system dynamically adjusts which alarms and documents are visible based on the current plant state. The system transitions between different information display configurations as plant states change, ensuring operators receive appropriate information for each operational context rather than a static complete set of all possible alarms
2Productivity
If alarm suppression rules are configured to exclude technical objects from alarm generation, then operator distraction is reduced, but information availability may be insufficient during critical states
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different information suppression characteristics to different technical objects and document types based on their relevance to the current plant state. Instead of uniform suppression, each alarm source and document is evaluated individually against state-specific suppression rules, ensuring that locally relevant information remains available while suppressing only the appropriate non-critical alarms
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors plant state changes and automatically adjusts alarm suppression and document accessibility accordingly. When plant states transition, the feedback mechanism triggers re-evaluation of suppression rules, ensuring that information availability adapts to current operational needs and preventing both unnecessary suppression and information overload
3Ease of operation
If all documents are accessible during all plant states, then operators can access any information, but system complexity increases due to unnecessary document management
Solution Approach 1:
Document accessibility restrictions are pre-configured for different plant states during system engineering. The system automatically applies the appropriate document accessibility configuration when plant states are detected, avoiding the need for complex real-time decision logic and reducing operational complexity while maintaining ease of access when needed
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a control system (11) for a technical plant, in particular a manufacturing or process plant, which comprises a computer-implemented alarm system (31) designed to monitor technical objects (25) with regard to predefinable criteria and to generate alarm messages with regard to the monitored technical objects (25), wherein it is predefinable in the alarm system that a technical object (25) or a plurality of technical objects (25) are excluded from the generation of alarm messages when one or more predefinable conditions are met.The control system (11) is characterized in that it is designed to exclude, upon fulfillment of one or more predefined conditions, additional documents which are related to the technical object (25) affected by the generated alarm message and which are intended for visual display by an operator of the control system (11) in the context of operation and monitoring of the technical system, from operation by the operator during the running time of the technical system.