Responding to SCADA Alarms
This section covers acknowledgment of alarms and inhibiting/enabling alarms on various elements in the SCADAMOM database.
The following types of SCADA alarms can be acknowledged:
Analog limit violation alarms
Point status change alarms
Site communication alarms
Control timeout alarms
Setpoint timeout alarms
Substation topology alarms
Device topology alarms
Bay topology alarms
SCADA remote site or Front End communication alarms
Performing a Page Acknowledgment
When a page acknowledgment is performed, all unacknowledged alarms that are indicated on the display are acknowledged, provided you have permission to do so.
To perform a page acknowledgment from an SCADA Exception List display, click the bell button at the upper right.
On the display, all bell buttons accompanying the individual exceptions disappear, indicating that they have been acknowledged.
Acknowledging a Single Alarm
Unacknowledged alarms on SCADA Exception List displays are accompanied by bell buttons.
The following types of alarms can be acknowledged:
Analog limit violation alarms
Point status change alarms
Site communication alarms
Control timeout alarms
Setpoint timeout alarms
Substation topology alarms
Device topology alarms
To acknowledge a single alarm on any view of the SCADA Exception List display, click the bell button for the desired exception.
The bell button for the exception disappears, indicating that it has been acknowledged.
Inhibiting or Enabling Alarms from a One-Line
Inhibiting/enabling alarms is a toggle-type action. That is, the alarm processing is toggled between “Inhibited” and “Enabled” each time this procedure is performed.
The following types of alarms can be inhibited/enabled:
Analog limit violation alarms
Point status change alarms
Site communication alarms
Substation topology alarms
Device topology alarms
To inhibit or enable alarms from a one-line display:
- Select the device for which alarms are to be enabled or inhibited.
A pop-up box appears. A symbol next to the Inhibit button indicates the device’s current state: inhibited or enabled.
Click the Inhibit button to toggle the device to the opposite state.
The symbol next to Inhibit changes accordingly.
Click the Done button.
The pop-up disappears. The device’s new inhibited/enabled state is represented on the one-line.
This action updates the self quality flags.
Inhibiting or Enabling Alarms from a Tabular
Inhibiting/enabling alarms is a toggle-type action. That is, the alarm processing is toggled between “Inhibited” and “Enabled” each time this procedure is performed.
To inhibit or enable alarm processing, on the Substation Tabular display, click the Inhibit Alarms button for the appropriate device.
The button changes to the opposite state (from enabled to inhibited, or vice versa).
This action updates the self quality flags.
Temporarily Inhibiting Alarms from a Tabular
Temporary inhibition enables placing a measurement object (i.e., analog, point, or bay’s device group) into a self-inhibition state for a defined period. At the end of the period, one of the following actions can be performed:
Return the object to an un-inhibited state.
Keep the object inhibited and generate an alarm reminder indicating that the object is temporarily inhibited. In this case, the object remains inhibited until it is enabled by a user action. A user can modify or cancel the temporary inhibition settings, or enable alarms before the end of the period.
The related user interfaces are available in the form of contextual pop-up windows from the inhibition flag symbol in the tabular displays.
To place a point from the substation tabular display in temporary inhibition:
- Right-click the menu handle next to the Inhibit Alarm checkbox.
Select “Set/Reset Point Temporary Inhibition” to open the SCADA Point Temporary Inhibition pop-up window.
Check or uncheck the Alarm Reminder option.
Either enter the duration (in minutes) for the temporary inhibition period and click the Apply Duration button, or enter an end time for the temporary inhibition period and click the Apply (End Time) button.
If Apply Duration is selected and the Duration field is left at 0, the default duration from the SCADA Configuration parameters will be used. The end time will be calculated as the current time plus the duration.
If Apply (end time) is selected and the End Time field is empty, the end time will be calculated as the current time plus the default duration from the SCADA Configuration parameters. If the difference between the entered end time and current time is less than one minute, the default duration from the SCADA Configuration parameters will be used.
The Alarm Reminder option defaults to the setting from the SCADA Configuration parameters, and can be changed after the Temporary Inhibition is enabled. If deselected, the object will return to an un-inhibited state at the end time. If selected, the object will remain inhibited until enabled by a user action, and alarms will be generated periodically based on the duration.
To cancel the temporary inhibition settings while remaining inhibited:
While the object is temporarily inhibited, enter “0” in the duration field or enter the current time in end time field.
To remove the temporary inhibition settings and self inhibition:
Click the Remove Inhibition button, or from any display, deselect the Inhibit Alarm check box.
Inhibiting or Enabling an Entire Substation
Each analog and digital status point that is modeled in a substation has its alarms inhibited (self inhibit quality). Note that this is different from inhibiting and enabling alarms on a substation.
Inhibiting/enabling alarms is a toggle-type action. That is, the alarm processing is toggled between “Inhibited” and “Enabled” each time this procedure is performed.
To inhibit or enable alarm processing for all measurements on a substation:
- Call up the Substation Tabular display and click the Action Options button.
The Options pop-up appears.
From the Options pop-up, select either Mass Alarm Inhibit or Mass Alarm Enable.
The alarms are inhibited or enabled for all analogs and points modeled on the substation. This action updates the self quality flags.
Inhibiting or Enabling an Entire Bay
The following procedure describes how to inhibit or enable alarm processing for all measurements on a bay. Each analog and digital status point that is modeled in that bay has its alarms inhibited (self inhibit quality). Note that this is different from inhibiting and enabling alarms on a bay.
Inhibiting and enabling alarms is a toggle-type action. That is, the alarm processing is toggled between “Inhibited” and “Enabled” each time this procedure is performed.
- Call up the Substation Tabular display where the bay is defined.
Call up the Equipment Group tabular display that corresponds to the bay, and click the Action Options button.
The Options pop-up appears.
From the Options pop-up, select either Mass Alarm Inhibit or Mass Alarm Enable.
The alarms are inhibited or enabled for all analogs and points modeled on the bay. Note that this action updates the self quality of the measurements.
Inhibiting or Enabling a Bay
The following procedure describes how to inhibit or enable an alarm for a bay. If the bay is modeled for hierarchical actions, inhibiting the bay also hierarchically inhibits the measurements modeled in this bay (hierarchical inhibit quality).
- Call up the Substation Tabular display where the bay is defined.
Call up the Equipment Group tabular display that corresponds to the bay, and click the Action Options button.
Click on the Inhibit action to toggle the quality (as for a measurement; see section 2.2.4 Inhibiting or Enabling Alarms from a Tabular).
If the hierarchical actions are enabled for this type of bay, all the analog and status points are hierarchically inhibited. This action updates the hierarchical quality flags.
Inhibiting or Enabling a Substation
Substations can only be inhibited using the tagging application, provided tag types with inhibit attributes have been defined:
- Open any display where there is a substation entry
Right-click on the record and choose the tag type that will inhibit the substation
Fill the form and apply the tag.
Inhibiting or Enabling from an Alarm Display
Operators can inhibit a measurement from the alarm display, provided that the current user has the permission on the measurement’s area to do so.