EPICS Controls Argonne National Laboratory

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  <20082009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024  Index 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  <20082009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
<== Date ==> <== Thread ==>

Subject: Re: Process 'bo' on write?
From: "David Dudley" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:52:52 -0500
I think this system probably "...rides the line..." in that definition.

Each of the chemical areas have separate alarm systems, with their own
horns and lights, attached to the detection equipment for that
particular area.
This system is our "early warning" system, which is setup to accept
values from each of the detectors, and based on setpoints, determine if
a "early warning" should be issued.  The purpose of the early warning is
not for "public safety", but to notify the operations staff either at
the plant here (about 30 miles away), or at the site, that there is
something they should look into.

Should the condition persist, and get to the actual warning levels
defined in the detector systems, the alarms for that particular area
would automatically go off.

The new IOC replaces an old "IBM XT" computer, which ran a GWBasic
(remember GWBasic???) program written by a previous contractor long
before my time.

David

>>> "J. Lewis Muir" <[email protected]> 10/7/2008 12:19 PM >>>
On 10/7/08 1:00 PM, David Dudley wrote:
> Unfortunately, all my sites are not connected together over the
network,
> some are handled using 1200 baud radios.
> 
> This is one of our remote facilities, where we handle Hydrofluoric
acid
> (probably misspelled that one), Gaseous and Liquid Chlorine, and
Liquid
> Ammonium Sulfate.  The alarm is to notify residents in the area in
case
> of a chemical mishap or leak.  I'm lucky to have a PLC and a IOC
> available at this site, and I don't think there's enough space on
the
> IOC's ram disk for me to run the alarm handler as well.
> 
> The site's pretty much dictated to me, and I'm using the IOC to
> communicate with all the gas detectors, make decisions about what's
> dangerous, and set off alarms.

Hi, David.

Just a heads-up: my understanding is that EPICS has not been designed
to
be used in a role that provides human safety.  See this tech-talk post
from Andrew:

  http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/tech-talk/2008/msg00797.php 

If you're using EPICS to provide some extra software alarms or
something
in addition to existing human safety alarms, that's one thing.  But if
you're actually using EPICS to determine whether an alarm horn or
strobe
should go off when some environment condition could be dangerous for a
human to warn them of a danger, I don't think EPICS was designed for
that.

But this is just my understanding; I could be wrong.

Lewis
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
X-GWTYPE:USER
FN:David Dudley
TEL;WORK:826-1265
ORG:;MIS
TEL;PREF;FAX:880-3741
EMAIL;WORK;PREF;NGW:[email protected]
N:Dudley;David
TITLE:Functional Analyst
END:VCARD


References:
Process 'bo' on write? David Dudley
Re: Process 'bo' on write? Tim Mooney
Re: Process 'bo' on write? David Dudley
Re: Process 'bo' on write? Maren Purves
Re: Process 'bo' on write? David Dudley
Re: Process 'bo' on write? J. Lewis Muir

Navigate by Date:
Prev: RE: Process 'bo' on write? Chestnut, Ronald P.
Next: IRMIS session at EPICS Meeting - please respond if you plan to attend. Count needed!!! (no body to message) Dalesio, Leo
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  <20082009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
Navigate by Thread:
Prev: RE: Process 'bo' on write? Chestnut, Ronald P.
Next: Re: Process 'bo' on write? Andrew Johnson
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  <20082009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
ANJ, 02 Sep 2010 Valid HTML 4.01! · Home · News · About · Base · Modules · Extensions · Distributions · Download ·
· Search · EPICS V4 · IRMIS · Talk · Bugs · Documents · Links · Licensing ·