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Better Graphics for Operations Effectiveness Bill Hollifield, PAS Principal Consultant PAS 16055 Space Center Blvd, Suite 600 Houston, TX, USA 77062 (281) 286-6565 e-mail: bhollifield@pas.com
KEY WORDS
High Performance Human Machine Interface, HMI, Operator Effectiveness, Process Graphics
Hollifield, Page 2
Implementation of proper graphic principles can greatly enhance operator effectiveness. A High Performance HMI is both practical and achievable.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 3
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 4
However, there were no guidelines available as to how to actually create effective graphics. Early adopters created graphics that mimicked schematic drawings, primarily because they were readily available. Graphics such as Figures 2 and 3 were developed over 20 years ago and remain common throughout the industry. Indeed, inertia, not cost, is the primary obstacle to the improvement of HMIs. Operators become accustomed to this style of graphic and are resistant to change. As a result, industries that use modern control systems are now running multi-million dollar operations from primitive HMIs created decades ago, at a time that little knowledge of proper practices and principles was available.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 5
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 6
Hollifield, Page 7
There are no trends, condition indicators, or key performance elements. You cannot easily tell from this graphic whether the operation is running well or poorly. That situation is true for more than 90% of the graphics used throughout the industry because they were not designed to incorporate such information. Instead, they simply display dozens to hundreds of raw numbers without informative context.
Hollifield, Page 8 alarms occurred), and significant improvement in the success rate for handling them. In the real world, this translates into a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 9
Data or Information?
A primary difference of high performance graphics is the underlying principle that, wherever possible, operation values are shown in an informational context and not simply as raw numbers scattered around the screen. Information is data in context made useful. As an example, consider this depiction of a compressor (see Figure 6). Much money has been spent on the purchase of instrumentation. Yet, unless you are specifically trained and experienced with this compressor, you cannot tell if it is running at peak efficiency or is about to fail.
155.2
F
Cooler
108.2
135.1 psig
West
East
W. Vibration: 2.77
E. Vibration: 3.07
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 10
RECYCLE COMPRESSOR K43
Cool gpm Suct psig Inter psig Dsch psig Suct degF Inter degF Dsch degF Motor Amps Oil psig Oil degF
290
170
120 170 80
42.7
Alarm Range
Color
Color must be used consistently. There are several types of common color-detection deficiency in people, particularly males (red-green, white-cyan, green-yellow). For this reason, there is a well-known principle for the use of color: Color, by itself, is not used as the sole differentiator of an important condition or status. Most graphics throughout the world violate this principle. Redundant coding of information using additional methods other than color is desirable. A color palette must be developed, with a limited number of distinguishable colors used consistently. Bright colors are primarily used to bring or draw attention to abnormal situations, not normal ones. Screens depicting the operation running normally should not be covered in brightly saturated colors, such as red or green pumps, equipment, valves, etc.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 11 When alarm colors are chosen, such as bright red and yellow, they are used solely for the depiction of an alarmrelated condition and functionality and for no other purpose. If color is used inconsistently, then it ceases to have meaning. So what about the paradigm of using bright green to depict on and bright red for off, or vice versa if you are in the power industry? This is an improper use of color. The answer is a depiction such as Figure 8.
Figure 8: Depicting Status with Redundant Coding and Proper Color Usage
The relative brightness of the object shows its status, plus a WORD next to it. Things brighter than the background are on (think of a light bulb inside them). Things darker than the background are off.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 12
Alarm Depiction
Proper alarm depiction should also be redundantly coded based upon alarm priority (color / shape / text). Alarm colors should not be used for non-alarm related functionality.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 13
120.1 deg C
TI-468-02 Column Overhead Temperature Alarm: PVHI Class: Minor Financial Alarm Consequences: Off-spec Production Lowered efficiency Setting: 120 deg C Response Time: <15 min Alarm Causes: Excess steam Pressure excursion Insufficient reflux Corrective Actions: Adjust base steam rate Check pressure and feed parameters vs. SOP 468-1 Adjust reflux per computation; check controller for cascade mode Check feed composition Priority: 3
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 14
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 15
Level Indication Vessel levels should not be shown as large blobs of saturated color. A simple strip depiction showing the proximity to alarm limits is better. A combination of trend and analog indicator depictions is even better (See Figure 12).
100
2 Hrs
86.5%
Bar Charts
Attention to detail is important. It is typical to use bar charts to show relative positions and values. While this may be better than simply showing numbers, it is inferior to the use of moving pointer elements since as the bars value gets low, the bar disappears. The human eye is better at detecting the presence of something than its absence. The example in Figure 13 is superior in showing relative values, besides the color improvement.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 16
Valve V-1 V-2 V-3 X-1 X-2 X-3 X-4 S-1 S-2 K-1 K-2
Analog Position - Better
100% 100% 95% 88% 100% 100% 75% 0% 55% 100% 100%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Valve V-1 V-2 V-3 X-1 X-2 X-3 X-4 S-1 S-2 K-1 K-2
Figure 13: Bars vs. Pointers Tables and Checklists
100% 100% 95% 88% 100% 100% 75% 0% 55% 100% 100%
Even tables and checklists can incorporate proper principles (See Figure 14). Consistent colors and even status indication can be integrated.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 17
Air Comp
C #1 C #2
Status
RUNNING STOPPED
Mode
AUTO MAN
Diag
OK OK
C #3
C #4
RUNNING
STOPPED
AUTO
AUTO
OK
FAULT 3
Startup Permissives Breaker 15 Power OK Oil Temp 16-33 OK Oil Pres Status OK Level in TK-8776 OK Gen System Status OK Comp 88 in Auto NOT OK Lineup Ready OK Sys Status Checks OK Bearing Readouts NOT OK Comm check OK Outlet Temp < 250 OK Cooling Flow NOT OK Internal Circuit Check OK Bypass Closed OK AFS Function OK
Figure 14: Tables and Checklists
There are dozens of additional principles like these. See the References section.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 18
Display Hierarchy
Displays should be designed in a hierarchy that provides progressive exposure of detail. Displays designed from a stack of schematic designs will not have this; they will be flat like a computer hard disk with one folder for all the files. This does not provide for optimum situation awareness and control. A four-level hierarchy is desired.
Reactor 1
Comp A Comp B
Hydrog A
Prod: State: Agit: Locks:
IN
Cycle Comp A
Suct Dsch
Conversion Efficiency
80
Balance
%
500
80.0
Rate
72.0
2 HR
OK OK OK CLEAR
F L O W
470
70
12 HR
2 HR
Reactor 2
Comp A Comp B
Hydrog B
2
CRM LVL
Cool
CPC
Cycle Comp B
Suct Dsch
Bed B1
Bed B2
0.5
12 HR
Balance 500
Feed System
Feed A Feed B Feed C SynG
Aux Systems
CWT CWP S10 S200
68.0
Rate
60.0
2 HR
OK OK OK CLEAR
F L O W
470
2 HR
Atv 1
Atv 2
Pres
%IP
PWR
VentP VentT
MGA
P1 P2 P3 P4 Toggle 2 0 1 4 List /Summary 1 0 0 1 2 071608 08:55:07 RX2 LOW CRM QUALITY EXC
Main Menu
Reactor 1
Reactor 2
Hydrog A
Hydrog B
Clr T-In T-Out Visc C57D Null-A Jup2 Grok
Trend Control
Feed Sys
Aux Sys
Menus
L2 L3 L4
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 19
Feed Components: A - B - C
Main Feed P 76.8 MPH S 76.0 O 88.5 % AUTO 80.0 Main Feed MPH
Reactor
M5
Agitator ON
VENT SYS
M5 Pressure P 98.0 psig S 95.0 O 44.3 % AUTO
Product: Thionite
State:
Mid-Run
Material Balance
40.0
Analysis: Purity %
SHUT DOWN M5
32.0
-90
-60
-30 2 Hours
+/- 1 %, 2hr
FREEZE M5
-10%
72.0
Additive 1 P 11.9 MPH S 12.0 O 22.3 % AUTO 14.0
6.0
-90 -60 -30 2 Hours
ISOLATE M5
19707
19301
4.0
Additive 1 MPH
-90
-60
PRODUCT
10.0
Additive 2 P 4.0 MPH 4.0 S O 44.3 % AUTO 6.0
Hours
-90 -60 -30 2 Pumps Pump 1 Needed 1 RUNNING Diagnostics Pump 2 1-OK 2-BAD STOPPED 4 To Coils M5 Temp P 45.0 C S 45.0 O 54.3 % AUTO Temperature C
Additive 2 MPH
48.0
2.0
-90
-60
-30 2 Hours
Coolant Purge Cat. Flow Rate Activity Coolant Conversion Reserve Temp Efficiency Capacity
COOLING SYS
40.0
-90
-60
-30 2 Hours
Main Menu
M4
M6
Trend Control
Feed System
Product Recovery
M5 Startup Overlay
M5 Sequence Overlay
- Level 3 M5 Interlocks
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 20
Figure 17: Example Level 3 Display Level 4 Support and Diagnostic Displays
Level 4 displays provide the most detail of subsystems, individual sensors, or components. They show the most detailed possible diagnostic or miscellaneous information. The dividing line between Level 3 and Level 4 displays can be somewhat gray.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 21
21.43
31.41 38.33
29.927
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 22
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 23
A high performance display will incorporate such information along with: Moving analog indicators indicating performance. Direction and content indicators Important trends Important status and alarms
Translated to a pipeline network, a conceptual High Performance Overview display might resemble figure 21.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 24
Station Status
Altair 4 A B C D E F G H A A A A M A A A
Mesklin A B C D E F G H A A A A M A A A
Arrakis A B C D E F G H A A A A M A A A
Trantor A B C D E F G H A A A A M A A A
H H
XFER A B C D E F G H ON ON ON ON
Diag
OFF H ON ON ON
42
43
42
44
43
43
43
8.0
75 78 78 75 51 50 75 55 74 77 45 74 50 50 65 51
Pipeline Permissives Breaker 15 Power OK Oil Temp 16-33 OK Oil Pres Status OK Level in TK-8776 OK Gen System Status OK Comp 88 in Auto NOT OK Lineup Ready OK Sys Status Checks OK Bearing Readouts NOT OK Comm check OK Outlet Temp < 250 OK Cooling Flow NOT OK Internal Circuit Check OK Bypass Closed OK AFS Function OK
08-15-2009 14:22:09
Econ O2 % A2 BFP KLB/HR B2 BFP KLB/HR
100% 100% 100% 95% 88% 100% 100% 75% 0% 55% 100% 100%
Minbari River
5.0
1800
1800
Arrakis Gateway
Trantor
Terminus
Mesklin
FUEL MASTER
MAN
Altair 4
TX LA
PULV A
Overall, the concepts incorporated in the text portion of the document are valid. It mentions several good practices. The examples section, however, provides several depictions that are in direct violation of those very text principles! For example, Section 8.2.4 properly states that Color should not be the only indication for information. That is, pertinent information should also be available from some other cue in addition to color such as a symbol or piece of text. Yet throughout the remainder of the document, examples are shown that routinely violate this principle. Figure 22 shows only a few of the recommended practice examples from API-RP-1165. In many of these examples,
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 25 only subtle color differences, not distinguishable by a substantial fraction of the operator population, are the only means to distinguish a significant status difference. In one table, API-1165 recommends color coding alarms by type. The well-known best practice is that they are redundantly coded by priority, not type (see Figure 22.) Users of API-1165 are therefore advised to pay more attention to the principles it contains than to the example depictions.
BACKGROUND COLOR Color Normal High-High Alarm High Alarm Low Alarm Low-Low Alarm Unknown/Error Black Black Black Black Black Black
4 Way Valve Symbols
STATE
EXAMPLE
T <- Tag
Data Attribute
STATIC
T RUN
RIGHT
T RIGHT
RIGHT
T RIGHT T
LEFT
LEFT T
LEFT
LEFT
TRANSIT
T TRN
INVALID
T INV
UNKNOWN/ ERROR
T ERR
Tagged
T LEFT
ABC
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
RIGHT
RIGHT
LEFT
LEFT
TRN
INV
ERR
LEFT
Offscan
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
RIGHT
RIGHT
LEFT
LEFT
TRN
INV
ERR
LEFT
Manual
ABC T
RIGHT
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
LEFT
LEFT
ABC T
ABC T
INV
ERR
LEFT
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
RIGHT
RIGHT
LEFT
LEFT
TRN
INV
ERR
LEFT
Alarm Inhibit
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC T
ABC
RIGHT
RIGHT
LEFT
LEFT
TRN
INV
ERR
Tagged
ABC
ABC
ABC
ABC
ABC
ABC
ABC
Station ABC
RUN
RUN
U1 T OPN
I
T
T OPN T OPN
U2
I
T
T OPN L
% Open 123.4 %
V8
V9
V10
V11
T Suction 123.4 Psi DIscharge 123.4 Psi T Suction SP 123.4 Psi T OPN Discharge SP 123.4 Psi V13 OPN
CLS
V6 T T OPN CLS
T T CLS T OPN
V4
V15 T
OPN
V3
T T V2
OPN
OPN V14
T T
OPN
V1
V16
V17
To Station BCD
To Station DEF
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 26
Conclusion
Sophisticated, capable, computer-based control systems are currently operated via ineffective and problematic HMIs, which were designed without adequate knowledge. In many cases, guidelines did not exist at the time of graphic creation and the resistance to change has kept those graphics in commission for two or more decades. The functionality and effectiveness of these systems can be greatly enhanced if redesigned in accordance with proper principles. A High Performance HMI is practical and achievable.
References
Hollifield, B., Oliver, D., Habibi, E., & Nimmo, I. (2008). The High Performance HMI Handbook. Hollifield,B., Perez, H., Crawford, W., (2009), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Operator HMI Case Study: The Evaluation of Existing Traditional Operator Graphics vs. High Performance Graphics in a Coal Fired Power Plant Simulator, Product ID 1017637, Note: currently available only to EPRI members Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com
Hollifield, Page 27
About PAS
PAS (www.pas.com) improves the automation and operational effectiveness of power and process plants worldwide by aggregating, contextualizing, and simplifying relevant information and making it universally accessible and useful. We provide software and services that ensure safe running operations, maximize situation awareness, and reduce plant vulnerabilities. Our comprehensive portfolio includes solutions for Alarm Management, Automation Genome Mapping, Control Loop Performance Optimization, and High-Performance Human-Machine Interfaces. PAS solutions are installed in over 1,000 industrial plants worldwide.
Presented at the 2012 ISA Water & Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium Holiday Inn Castle Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA Aug 7-9, 2012 www.isawwsymposium.com