Movicon Help on Line - Rel. 11.7.1301
The moment an alarm or message is inserted it can be configured in the general properties as described below. The general properties allow you to associate the variable which determines the alarm's intervention.
To modify an alarm's general settings, select it with the mouse and use the 'Movicon 'Properties window'.
This edit box permits you to define the Alarm or message object's name which is to be configured.
The object's name only identifies the alarm or message in the 'Alarms List' and identifies the object if inserted into the Template library.
This edit box allows you to define the device's name that the Alarm or Message refers to.
The device's name will be displayed in the alarms window, before the alarms' text. The name of the device will be displayed in the alarm window, preceding the alarm's text. this syntax will be used only in cases where alarm is not an alarm Template. The displayed text in Alarm Window will be composed according to alarm type as follows:
Alarm with associated variable or Alarm generated by variables with the same name
Displayed Text = <Device Name> - <Alarm Text> (when "Alarm Text" property has been set)
Displayed Text = <Device Name> - <Threshold Name> (when "Alarm Text" property has not been set)
Alarm as Template
Displayed Text = <Variable Name> - <Alarm Text> (when "Alarm Text" property has been set)
Displayed Text = <Variable Name> - <Threshold Name> (when "Alarm Text" property has not been set)
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The variable value can be displayed in the text by inserting the following syntax: %(Variable Name) For instance, if you want to insert the VAR00001 value in the text, the string should be: "Device Name %(VAR00001) By doing this the variable's value will be displayed dynamically. The value displayed in the Alarm Window will be the value read the exact moment the alarm was turned ON. |
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In cases where the alarm text has to support the multilangage Alarm Log and Runtime it must contain special ID-String $(ID-String) directly. For example, if you need to insert the "VAR00001" variable value in the text that contains the "String01" ID-String, the text to be set in the Alarm Threshold's 'Threshold Name' or 'Alarm Text' property will be: $(String01)%(VAR00001). Therefore "String01" ID-String should already be in the String Table with the text translated in the different languages, for example: "Allarme Motore 01 - Ampere=" in Italian and "Motor 01 in Alarm - Ampere=" in English. When the variable obtains the 50 value in runtime, the alarm text will result as "Allarme Motore 01 - Ampere=50" in Italian and when the language is changed to English it will result as "Motor 01 in Alarm - Ampere=50". In particular cases can be considered where various ID-Stings and Variable values are concatenated for the "Alarm Text" property for example:
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The concatenation of more than one variable value (eg. "VAR00008 = %(VAR00008) and VAR00003 = %(VAR00003)" and ID-String (eg. "@(ID-Str01) - @(ID-Str02)") is not supported when the Multilanguage Log Management is active. In this case you will need to use a mixed syntax such as::
If you use the Alarm as a Template, the Variable Name can also be inserted in the String Table as an ID-String as well. |
This box is used to select the variable from those presented in the Movicon 'Variables List' which generate the alarm or alarms (or messages) in function with event thresholds, defined through the relevant properties. You can use the syntaxes relating to the bit pointing within a variable or structure variables (eg. VAR0001.5, or STR0001:ALL_01).
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If this field is left blank, in runtime Movicon will control if there is an existing variable with the same name of the alarm in the Real Time DB. If one does exist it will be used as the activation variable for that alarm (see the section on "Alarms activated by homonymous Variables"). |
Enabling this property will make the alarm work with the usual threshold, but the confrontation will be referred to the "Total Time ON" instead of variable's value. The time is the total duration expressed in seconds that the variable was at a value different from zero. By using a new variable statistics (see "Retentive Variables and Statistical Data") you will be able to find out how long the variable has been at a value that is not zero. This function can be very handy in managing programmed maintenance. In order to use this function you will need to enable the "Retentive not Shared" and "Enable Statistic Data" properties for the variable in question.
When the variable's "Total Time ON" exceeds the value set in the alarm's threshold, the alarm will be activated. After which by resetting the variable's statistics, its "Total Time ON" will be zeroed and the alarm will turn to OFF.
This box is used for selecting a variable which consents the alarm intervention. When the selected variable has a value other than zero (><0), when conditions subsist, the alarm will be notified regularly. When the variable has a 0 value, even though there maybe alarm conditions present, this will not be activated.
When this box is not selected, the alarm will always be enabled if the 'Enable' property is set at 'True' value.
Enable Dispatching Messages Var.
This selection box is used for selecting a variable to consent the sending of messages to the Alarm Dispatcher. The sending of sms, email,etc. messages to the Alarm Dispatcher will be enabled when the selected variable is set with a value other than zero (><0). On the other hand, when the variable is set at zero value the sending of messages to the Alarm Dispatcher will be disabled.
The alarm's hysteresis allows you to insert a control on the alarms effective re-entry when the threshold value is oscillating, in order to provoke an over-intervention (ON) and re-entry (OFF) of the alarm itself.
The hysteresis is an absolute value which is dealt differently according to how the condition of the alarm's intervention is set:
Condition "="
The alarm intervenes when the variable assumes a value equal to the value set for the alarm's threshold. The alarm re-enters when the value of the variable is higher or lower than the threshold value +/- half of the hysteresis value.
Condition ">="
The alaarm intervenes when the variable assumes a value higher or equal to that of the alarm's threshold. The alarm re-enters when the variable is lower than the threshold value less the hysteresis value.
Condition "<="
The alarm intervenes when the variable assumes a value less or equal to the that of the alarm's threshold. The alarm re-enters when the variable is higher than the threshold value plus the hysteresis value.
This parameter defines the Cache memory size (expressed in 'Number of Events', default 1024 on Desktop) to buffer the events associated to the Alarm variable variations before the alarm is taken into consideration by the Thread that processes active alarms.
Therefore if the variable rapidly changes its ON/OFF state and the Cache memory has a value higher than '1', all the events associated to the variable's variation are displayed in the Alarm Window while being buffered in the Cache.
This mechanism does not concern the alarm log in the Data Base which in this case is based on the 'Historical Log - ODBC Manager - Max. Cache Size" parameter for execution in cases where data need to be flushed on file.
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When working with Windows CE you will need to make sure that the 'Alarm Cache' is set with low values according to the System type used to avoid Memory Leaks from happening due to values being too highhigh values. |
When there are more than one threshold present, the enabling of this property will evoke the disappearance of a alarm referred to one threshold when the alarm referring to the next threshold appears. Otherwise both alarms will both remain active.
This selection box is used to enable or disable the alarm intervention.
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The 'Enable' property has priority over the 'Enable Variable'. |
This selection box is used for enabling the alarms management only when the quality of the its connected variable is good. This means for example that the alarms associated to the variables directly arriving from the PLC or from any other field device, will automatically be disabled when there are any communication interruptions.
