REAL TIME ANALYSIS OF PROCESS PLANT ALARMS

The human operator has received little attention in the design of process monitoring and control systems. His tasks are not usually clearly defined. The instruments and controls that he is provided with might be considered as a collection of individual components rather than as a properly-engineered system. (1) In the case of alarms in a nuclear power station there may be several thousand alarms. Each alarm in a conventional system consists of a fascia panel mounted in grids on the control room walls. When ap. alarm occurs the fascia panel is illuminated and made to flash until the alarm is “accepted” by the operator. In the United Kingdom during the 1960’s it was decided that this type of system was not suitable for the 3000 alarms in use.