Author: Malinowski, S.M.
Paper Title Page
THPV016
Developing an Alarm Philosophy for the EPICS Control System at ISIS  
 
  • S.A. Medley, I.D. Finch, S.M. Malinowski, M. Romanovschi
    STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
 
  The ISIS Muon and Neutron Source control system alarms have been growing organically during the 30+ years of ISIS’s operation. The upcoming migration from the Vista Control Systems product Vsystem to EPICS provides the right opportunity and framework for a ‘fresh start’ to review and rationalise the alarms. Internationally recognised good engineering practice is defined in the IEC-62682 / ISA 18.2 Standards for the Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries, which describe the Alarm Management Lifecycle: an ongoing process of continuous improvement to be used to manage alarms in control systems. The Lifecycle begins with the development of an Alarm Philosophy, which establishes the basic definitions, principles and processes to design, implement and maintain an alarm system. The development of an Alarm Philosophy for the new EPICS Control system at ISIS is outlined, setting out the basis for the identification, classification and prioritisation of alarms. The challenges of managing the transition of the alarms from Vsystem to EPICS are discussed, including the outcome of initial work applying the Alarm Philosophy to rationalising the existing Vsystem alarms.  
poster icon Poster THPV016 [2.225 MB]  
Cite • reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)