ALSTOM ALSPA P1200NT Tripping and Control Relays

ALSTOM ALSPA P1200NT Tripping and Control Relays

In the field of industrial automation and process control, real-time, accurate, and comprehensive monitoring systems are the core to ensure production efficiency, product quality, and operational safety. With the evolution of technology, the requirements of enterprises for monitoring systems are no longer limited to basic data display, but hope that they can provide flexible architecture, powerful integration capabilities, friendly operating interfaces, and future oriented openness. The ALSPA P1200NT monitoring system launched by ALSTOM (now under GE Vernova) is an advanced solution designed to meet these needs. It can provide a unique and comprehensive application view for various industrial applications, helping operators and managers to grasp production dynamics in real time and make accurate decisions.

Product positioning: Comprehensive coverage from small stations to large systems

ALSPA P1200NT is a powerful family of monitoring systems designed with the concept of "comprehensive coverage from single station to large-scale systems". This means that it has extremely high architectural flexibility and can serve as an independent local control station for monitoring small process flows; It can also serve as the foundation for distributed large-scale systems, integrating hundreds or thousands of process variables to achieve centralized control of complex factories.

Core advantages:

Excellent cost-effectiveness: The ALSPA P1200NT provides powerful monitoring capabilities at a highly competitive cost, making it an ideal choice for small and medium-sized process monitoring.

Easy to use: The software design is centered around the operator and does not require professional training to get started. Through the drop-down menu guidance, whether it is creating simulation screens or configuring and running applications, operators can quickly master them.

Openness and Standardization: Based on Windows 95 ® And Windows NT ® The standard provides a familiar interface and a set of display rules. At the same time, it supports multiple standard communication protocols and can easily connect to various PLCs and automation devices.

Application customization capability: Through user programs, specific application requirements can be easily integrated into the system to create targeted solutions.

Widely applicable fields

ALSPA P1200NT is suitable for continuous and discontinuous process monitoring, and its applications span multiple industries and service areas:

Aerospace Engineering

Food Technology

chemical industry

Energy and Metallurgy

water treatment

transportation

glass industry

Deep analysis of core functions

1. User friendly graphical interface

The operating environment of ALSPA P1200NT prioritizes operator safety and ease of use. The system ensures that only operations related to the current control phase are displayed on the screen by managing the 'visibility properties', thereby avoiding misoperations.

Multi window display: supports simultaneous display of monitoring images, data recording windows, and trend windows on the same screen, providing rich information views.

Unlimited number of screens: The number of simulated screens is limited only by available memory. Supports bitmap and vector graphics formats, with advanced graphics capabilities.

Rich animation effects: There is no limit to the number of animations, which can be tracked based on 16 levels and displayed according to the operator's access permissions.

Object Library: A built-in pre configured graphic object library that allows users to modify or completely redraw and animate objects. Object oriented graphic design saves creation time and directly associates features with devices rather than base variables.

2. Dynamic configuration capability

This is a major highlight of ALSPA P1200NT. The system allows for the modification of graphical interfaces, hierarchical databases, and object libraries during process monitoring. This means that adjustments to functions such as alarm detection and log management can be made without affecting normal operations, greatly enhancing the flexibility and availability of the system.

3. Comprehensive alarm management

Multiple alarm windows: Supports opening multiple alarm views simultaneously.

Multi level alarm: Provides up to 30 alarm levels and 8 alarm states.

User defined: Supports 8 user-defined colors for easy differentiation of alarm priority.

Recording and filtering: Alarm can be recorded to the hard drive and printer, and supports filtering by domain and type.

Quick navigation: You can directly jump from the alarm entry to the associated simulation screen.

4. Log and recorder functions

The log is composed of the same components as the simulation screen and can be printed or archived based on cycles, event triggers, or operator requests.

The recorder function allows playback of recorded logs. Due to the fact that these logs are in the same format as simulated images, operators can use the "forward", "backward", and "stop" buttons to replay archived factory activities in the same display format as real-time activities, providing a powerful tool for accident analysis and operational training.

5. Trend analysis

Historical and real-time trends: Supports data recording based on state changes or cycles. Data can be exported in ASCII format or stored in binary format to ensure speed.

Multiple windows and curves: Supports multiple trend windows, with a maximum of 8 curves displayed in each window.

View operation: Provides zoom and panoramic view functions, and is equipped with a cursor to read the numerical value of the selected point.

6. Hierarchical database and object library

Hierarchical database: The data structure is organized as closely as possible to the process flow, making it easy to operate and establish connections between variables and animation objects. This application specific approach allows system integrators to create templates using standard notation, saving configuration and maintenance time.

Object library: Contains pre configured graphic objects that can be modified or redrawn, and supports animation linking.

7. Access permission management

The system assigns a set of priorities to each user, implementing tailored access permissions for each operator to ensure operational security and clear responsibilities.

Flexible architecture and communication capabilities

The strength of ALSPA P1200NT also lies in its ability to adapt to system architectures of various scales and complexities.

1. Multi site operation

Suitable for applications where multiple semi independent processes are interconnected. In a multi site configuration, P1200NT uses a distributed database system. Its message processing system exchanges variable values in real-time between sites and is responsible for broadcasting alarm confirmation information and operator actions.

2. Client server architecture

Suitable for applications where multiple operators need to access the same integrated process.

Server: As a data producer, responsible for communicating with PLC and broadcasting data to the operator station and its simulated screens. It serves as a front-end communication interface, ensuring that the data seen by different operators is completely consistent.

Client: The operator station can serve as a client and even access servers from remote locations through STN networks or other remote communication methods.

3. Redundancy management

PLC redundancy management: P1200NT has built-in management functions for ALSPA PLC redundancy, simplifying station configuration and PLC programming.

Server redundancy: Two redundant servers running in parallel are responsible for communicating with the PLC. Each client connects to both the primary server and the backup server simultaneously. When the primary server is unavailable, it automatically switches to the backup server to ensure high availability of the system.

4. Network support

ALSPA N80: Token Network, providing an ideal compromise between cost and performance for manufacturing applications.

ALSPA E80: Ethernet TCP/IP, a communication standard at the production unit level.

ALSPA F8000: Field network reference for time critical control in high-speed industrial applications.

ALSPA S8000: Powerful and open Ethernet TCP/IP for client server architecture.

5. Third party device connection

P1200NT supports multi protocol interface cards, so it can be connected to any type of controller.

Open interfaces for the future

ALSPA P1200NT fully considered the openness and scalability of the system from the beginning of its design, and through multiple standard interfaces, it can easily integrate into modern information architecture.

1. ODBC interface

Through ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), an industry standard database interface, all or part of archived data (trends, logs, records) can be recorded in a relational database. In addition, recipes can be created in external databases and read by the P1200NT monitoring station.

2. DDE and DLL dynamic linking

The system exchanges data with external applications through the DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) interface and calls external functions through the DLL (Dynamic Link Library) interface, achieving seamless integration with third-party software.

3. SCADA BASIC User Program

This structured language is designed specifically for customized industrial applications and can be used to access various functions such as logic processing sequences, animations, and programs managed by external DLLs. It allows all components of the P1200NT control station to be operated through special user-defined programs.

4. OLE 2 and Active X

OLE 2: P1200NT has the OLE 2 interface, which means that any other Windows application (such as a spreadsheet or database) that can be animated in real-time can be included in the runtime screen.

Active X: P1200NT is an Active X container, and any Active X component can be integrated into the simulation screen and animated in real-time.

5. ALSPA P1200 Web

The P1200NT has a built-in web server called ALSPA P1200 Web. Through Internet Explorer ® Or browsers such as Netscape can access any simulated screen, alarm view, or trend.

Intranet: Any connection point of the Ethernet network within a site can become a control point.

Internet: enables remote maintenance from any corner of the world. Its security access system allows for viewing or control options based on user permissions.

6. Visual BASIC

All graphical components can be accessed through Visual BASIC programs to enhance the operator interface.

7. 32-bit multi-threaded applications

ALSPA P1200NT is a 32-bit application developed for the Windows NT environment. The multi-threaded structure of its software allows it to run on a multiprocessor hardware architecture, fully leveraging hardware performance.

Technical specifications and product models

performance metrics

Maximum project value

Number of alarms 32000

Recorded alarms are only limited by memory/hard drive

Real time trend buffer size 32000

Record period 0 to 32000 seconds

Event recording is only limited by memory/hard drive

Operator action recording is only limited by memory/hard drive

Logging is only limited by memory/hard drive

Formula quantity 2000

5000 variables per formula

Archive unit size 2000 MB

Function key 32000

Sequence 512

Formula 32000

Window is only limited by memory/hard drive

Window 99 in cache

Each window animation is only limited by memory

Product model and variable capacity

Different models are distinguished based on the number of supported variables (total number of external, device, or DDE variables, internal variables are unlimited in all versions):

Maximum number of variables for the model

Micro (MR) 75

Junior (JR) 250

Small (MN) 1000

Advanced (SR) 5000

Maximum size (MX) unlimited

Software version type

Full version (C): Includes development environment and runtime environment.

Development Version (DV): Used only for creating and modifying applications.

Run version (RT): Only used for executing monitoring applications.

Independent Station and Client Server Selection

Independent sites: P1200NT/MX/C (maximum full version), P1200NT/MX/DV (development version), P1200NT/MX/RT (running version), etc.

Client: CLI/W/MX/C (Windows version maximum client full version), CLI/NT/MX/RT (NT version maximum client running version), etc.

Server: SERV/W/MX/C (Windows version of the largest server full version), SERV/NT/MX/RT (NT version of the largest server running version), etc.

Protocol Options

Protocol Description: Independent Station Server Client

Is the P1200NT/E80 E80 protocol correct

Is the P1200NT/S8000 S8000 protocol correct

Is there an additional third-party protocol for P1200NT/DRV

Is the message processing between P1200NT/MES stations correct