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Leata MullenPresidentApplied Control [email protected]
Shawn CoughlanPast-PresidentApplied Control [email protected]
Tammy [email protected]
Lee ClineProgram [email protected]
Jeff ArbogastNewsletter EditorPresident-ElectAir [email protected]
Matt MurphyMarketing ChairMembership [email protected]
Nick [email protected]
Bill BalascioPast PresidentCarew Associates [email protected]
SECTION OFFICERS 2011-2012
The SensorWilmington Delaware
April 2012In this Issue1. Shrimp Boil—Sponsor Recognition!
2. President’s Message
3. Book Review
4. February & March Meeting Summaries
5. Ralph L. Moore Scholarship Recipient
Upcoming EventsApril 24 Shrimp Boil
May 22 Meeting: Alarm Management
presented by Nick Sands
June 26 WISA Picnic
The FamousWilmington ISA Shrimp Boil
Tuesday, April 24, 20125:30 PM
Applied Control Engineering, Newark, DE
(Directions at www.ace-net.com)
Join us for the Famous
Wilmington ISAShrimp Boil
Tuesday, April 24 (5:30 PM)
Applied Control Engineering700 Creek View Road, Newark, DE 19711-8544
Free Food and Beverages
See our sponsors on Back PageVisit Wilmington ISA on the Web!
http://www.isa.org/community/wilmi
ISA
By Leata Mullen
It’s here, the WISA annual Shrimp Boil! Mark yourcalendar for April 24th and join us on the back patio atApplied Control Engineering at 5:30pm. If the weatherlooks rainy, we will meet inside instead. Tell your bossyou are “networking” and come out to join us. As always,there will be shrimp and beer and good company. Ourbook drawing will include some highly-reviewed booksfrom our own WISA book reviewer, Nick Sands. Pleasealso come prepared to tell us which meeting topics andtraining seminars you would be interested in seeing nextyear. We plan our meeting topics based on yourfeedback!
Ineffective alarm systems have often been cited ascontributing factors following major process incidents.Our May event is a popular presentation on alarmmanagement by Nick Sands of DuPont. Nick is aknowledgeable presenter, with a solid discussion preparedon how to implement and maintain an alarm managementsystem, including examples. His presentation includes adiscussion of ISA standard 18.2, Management of AlarmSystems for the Process Industries.
We’ll cap off up the season with our annual WISA picnic,June 26th. Let’s hope for another beautiful June eveningpicnic.
President’s Message
More Than Just Pretty Pictures - BBBB (Buy)ASM Consortium Guidelines: Effective Operator InterfaceDesignBy ASM Joint R&D Consortium
Reviewed by Nick Sands
One of the first organizations to address the design ofcontrol system displays was the Abnormal SituationManagement Consortium (ASM). The group formedbetween 1992-1994, evolving from a task group ofHoneywell users concerned about alarm systemperformance to an organization that includes usercompanies, technology companies and universities thatalso addresses other issues of user-control systeminteraction. ASM members developed the guidelines onEffective Operator Interface Design, but until recently thedocument was available only to member companies. Itprovides a list of 81 guidelines, grouped into 16 categories,and prioritized for relative importance.
Several categories target the organization of displaysincluding; display types, display content, display style,display layout, and navigation. One of the importantconcepts is a well structured display hierarchy thatprovides levels of information from overview to detail. Theyrecommend displays be designed and organized tosupport operator tasks. A guideline on animation anddetailed drawings states they should be used by rarely,except in the case of alarm indications. A consistent layoutsuggested, like process flows moving left to right,increases clarity and the navigation from one display toanother should be simple and clear to the operator.
The use of color, symbols and process connections, textand numbers, and the interactions with displays arecategories related to display design. The guidance is touse a minimum of colors, less than seven, and use themconsistently, with bright colors used only for alarms. Also,the number of symbols and line weights should also belimited and used consistently. They point out that textshould be readable from the operator’s position, and themeaning should be clear. Consider too that entry of datacan be error checked and commands should be quicklyacknowledged.
(continued on page 3)
More Than Just PrettyPictures
WISA Shrimp Boil
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Reach Automation Professionals bysponsoring this popular social event
(See back page for our current list of sponsors)
February & March 2012
WISA Section Meeting Summaries
More Than Just PrettyPictures
(continued from page 2)
Alarming is always a topic of concern in HMI design andseveral guideline categories address it, including; alarmconfiguration schemes, audible and visual annunciation ofalarms. In addition to reserving bright colors for alarms, itis recommended to use symbols for alarm and to ensurethey are visible at all times. Also, the operator should beable to see the alarms that are disabled or inhibited ifneeded. There is also guidance on the relative volume foraudible alarms.
Several categories briefly address some of the workprocess aspects of HMIs with topics like training, onlineuser assistance, design methodology, and management ofchange. The guidance includes getting user involvement inthe development of displays and including task analysis,and then training on the product HMI. Also, when changesare made, the users should receive notice. Arecommendation is to have some level of help screens orother online assistance for the users.
These guidelines will help many users to develop orimprove their HMI. There is a very good introductorysection on abnormal situations and a final chapter ondetermining conformance to the guidelines. A salute to theASM Consortium for sharing their Effective OperatorDisplay Design guidelines with the world. While it isHoneywell-centric at times, there is plenty of excellentguidance to make it worth buying (BBBB) for anyautomation professional that works on control system. It isavailable from Amazon.com for ~$115US.
On Tuesday, February 28, 2012, Claude Flandro ofControlSoft, Inc. presented on “Process Optimiza-tion—Keeping an Eye on Your Process.”
Poor control system performance is usually exhibitedin the fluctuations of the process variables or controloutputs. Inefficiency, quality degradation of theproduct, loss of energy, waste of production, loss ofproduction time, and shortened life cycle for processcomponents are direct effects of a fluctuating proc-ess.
This presentation introduced indicators that help onerecognize opportunities for improving the perform-ance of the control system. Using examples, Claudedescribed these indicators, the implemented correc-tions, and resulting benefits. An overview of the vari-ety of approaches to correct or improve the poor per-formance was provided along with techniques tomaintain the optimal performance into the future.
On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, Matt Taylor of PrimeTechnologies presented on “Calibration Manage-ment in a Changing Technological Landscape.”
Calibration is simply the comparison of instrumentperformance to a standard of known accuracy. Itmay simply involve this determination of deviationfrom nominal or include correction (adjustment) tominimize the errors. Properly calibrated equipmentprovides confidence that your products/servicesmeet their specifications. Poor calibration practiceseffect product quality and efficiency of processesamong other things and ultimately leadsto a decreased bottom line.
This presentation outlined the newest ways to con-trol and manage your calibration and maintenanceactivities. He discussed the benefits of using calibra-tion management software in conjunction with docu-menting process calibrators and how this automatedprocess decreases risk dramatically. Additionally,unique features of calibration management softwarewere discussed to highlight the return on investmentthat is typically achieved by implementing such soft-ware.
Encourage colleaguesto join ISA!
Benefits include:
Membership in Local Section
Membership in 2 Divisions
Free access to ISA Standards
Free access to ISA Technical papers
Free access to ISA Webinars
ISA - Wilmington SectionP O Box 9245Newark, DE 19714-9254
Mark your calendar
ISA Automation Week 2012
24-27 September 2012Orlando, FL
2012 Ralph L. MooreScholarship
Each year the Wilmington Section ISA extends a$1,000 scholarship to a high school senior who isplanning to attend a 4-year college, university ortechnical training school. An ISA member of our sec-tion must sponsor the candidate and applicants pur-suing a technical or science degree will be givenhigher preference.
The scholarship is in honor of the late Ralph L.Moore, an ISA Fellow, a past president of the Wil-mington ISA Section, and a pH control expert..
At the WISA Section Meeting on Wednesday, Febru-ary 28th, the 2012 Ralph L. Moore scholarship wasawarded to James Jackson, a senior at the CharterSchool of Wilmington. Jamie plans to major in Envi-ronmental Engineering.
WISA thanks our Shrimp Boil Sponsors
Joe Gunn & Mike ScottNorth East Technical Sales, Inc.
215-513-1000 410-404-8588 Directwww.netechsales.com
Tommy L. Quick, JrTyco / Scott Health & Safety
800-247-7257www.scotthealthsafety.com
Timothy A. WolkMSA
703-629-6384www.msanet.com
Jason RiddleRockwell Automation
248-703-1007www.rockwellautomation.com
John and Dianne BinghamMechanical Design Solutions
302-659-0233www.mds13.com
Tim ColeApplied Control Engineering
302-738-8800www.ace-net.com
Nigel FutterMichell Instruments
203-885-0390www.michell.com/us
Nancy MullenF. S. Welsford
610-524-9600 ext 111www.fswelsford.com
Arlo GreissEmerson Process Management
610-659-6096www.EmersonSmartWireless.com
Shawn HuberRumsey Electric
610-832-9034www.rumsey.com
Ed BrownThermocouple Technology
215-529-9394 ext 112www.tteconline.com
Meet our Friends of the Shrimp at their Table Top Displays
Please also thank our Boil Buddies
Paul D’Andrea, Pro-Quip973-253-0100 www.pro-quip.com
Serena Soape, Triflow Corp.856-768-7159 www.triflowcorp.com
Joe Baker, Miller Energy610-363-6200, www.millerenergy.com
George Poole, Magnetrol610-585-0281, www.magnetrol.com
Rich Fravel, Brooks [email protected]