S

SAS5xx 1MRB520325-Uen
Edition September 2003
Measurand Trends
Advanced Monitoring Function (Add-on)
p
Operating Instructions
  2003 ABB Switzerland Ltd
Baden/Switzerland

2nd Edition

Applies for software version MicroSCADA 8.4.4 and higher

All rights with respect to this document, including applications for patent and
registration of other industrial property rights, are reserved. Unauthorised use, in
particular reproduction or making available to third parties without our explicit
consent in writing, is prohibited.
The use is only allowed for the purpose laid down in the contract.

This document has been carefully prepared and reviewed. Should in spite of this
the reader find an error, he is requested to inform us at his earliest convenience.

The data contained herein purport solely to describe the product and are not a
warranty of performance or characteristic. It is with the best interest of our
customers in mind that we constantly strive to improve our products and keep
them abreast of advances in technology. This may, however, lead to discrep-
ancies between a product and its “Technical Description” or “Operating Instructions”.
 SAS5xx Measurand Trends 1MRB520325-Uen ABB Switzerland Ltd

Table of Contents

1. Measurand Trends...................................................................... 2
1.1.1. Graphical Form ........................................................................... 3
1.1.2. Tabular Form .............................................................................. 6

2. Measurement Engineering Tool................................................ 10

2.1. Overview / Features.................................................................. 10
2.2. Using Measurement Engineering Tool...................................... 10
2.2.1. Tool Bar .................................................................................... 12
2.2.2. Object Parameters .................................................................... 12
2.2.3. Trend Data Objects................................................................... 13
2.2.4. Trend Curve Assignments ........................................................ 15
2.2.5. Object Filter .............................................................................. 16

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1. Measurand Trends

The Measurand Trends can be presented in graphical mode as

full-graphic curves or in tabular mode. These two modes share
the same process data, but otherwise these modes can be used
independently.
The graphical form of the trend picture contains up to ten curves
from the process data log. They are presented as full-graphic
curves on a two-dimensional coordinate system that consists of
horizontal time (X) axis and vertical value (Y) axis. The curves
can be scrolled in both directions, X and Y, and the parameters
of both axis can be changed, as well as the line-scaling
parameters of the trend curves. All curves can temporarily be
erased from the screen.
Features
• graphical trend presentation of up to 10 curves
• tabular trend presentation of up to 10 columns
• hairline function
• colour configuration
• curve object identification
• line styles
• scaleable axis
• scrolling in X and Y direction
• on/off switching of each curve
• process data logging activation from station picture
• update interval options from 30 seconds to 10 minutes
• 2880 measured items per curve
• calculation formulae; direct, mean, sum and difference
• trend data saving to file (possible to import to e.g. Excel)
• zoom function
• save/open preconfigurations
• possibility to enter values manually to a trend
• printout option
• authorization support.

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1.1.1. Graphical Form

A trend is a time-related follow-up of process data. All types of
process objects can be illustrated as trends:
• input and output data
• analog data
• digital data.
In the graphical form up to ten trends - process data logs - can
be presented as full-graphic curves on a two-dimensional
coordinate system that consists of horizontal time (X) axis and
vertical value (Y) axis. The curves can be scrolled in both X- and
Y-directions and the parameters of both the axis can be
changed, as well as the line parameters of the trend curves. All
curves can be temporarily hidden from the screen. The graphical
form picture includes a multitude of tools.

Fig. 1.1 Graphical presentation of a measurand trend

The trend picture has two presentation modes, updating and

frozen. When in the updating mode, the trend picture reads the
new values of the selected trends and presents them at regular
intervals. The interval is the shortest registration interval of the
trends and it can not be changed. In this way the loss of
information is minimized. In the graphical form the new values

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are added to the right, and the curves are scrolled left accor-
dingly.
When in the frozen mode, the trend picture is not updated in
order to make it easier for the user to concentrate on specific
trend information. The mode is automatically set to frozen:
• when the picture is zoomed or scrolled
• when the basket dialog is opened
• when the hairline is shown.
Otherwise the mode can be selected from the tool bar or by
opening the presentation mode dialog from the Tools menu.
The graphical form picture has a set of tools, which can be
selected either from the tool bar or the Tools menu. In the
following the functionality of these tools is shortly described.

Fig. 1.2 The trend tools menu for graphical form

Trend Basket
Opens the Trend Basket dialog from which the trends - logged
process data - can be selected and the preconfigurations open-
ed.
The trend basket is the link between the station pictures (the
process data) and the trend picture. In the station picture the

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user can select process data to be presented in the trend picture

by opening the basket dialog from the menu and selecting the
symbol (picture function) of the process data. It must be noted
that logging of the selected process data starts when the trend
basket is closed with the OK button in the station picture.
When the trend picture is shown, the user can select the data to
be displayed in it by using the trend basket. When the trend
basket is closed, the selected trends are brought to the trend
picture and the parameters of the coordinate system are set
according to the parameters of the trends.
Tabular form
Switches the trend picture to show the trends in tabular form.
The graphical form can be returned by the corresponding button
in the tabular form picture, so the two forms can be toggled.
Presentation mode
In this case the tool bar button and the corresponding Tools
menu item function differently. The menu item opens the
presentation mode dialog, where the user can set the trend
picture mode to frozen or updating whereas the tool bar button
toggles between the modes. The current mode is indicated by a
field in the lower right part of the picture.
Preconfigurations
Opens the Trend Picture Preconfigurations dialog by which the
current trend picture set-up can be saved.
X-axis and Y-axis parameters
Open the dialogs where the parameters of the axes can be set.
Edit line parameters
Opens a dialog by which the line parameters (line colors, widths
and styles) of each trend curve can be adjusted. A sample of
each line is shown on the right side of the picture beside the
shown trend buttons.
Zoom in and out
Zooming in takes place as follows: first click the zoom in button
or the corresponding menu item and then select the desired area
inside the grid area by dragging with the mouse. A box is shown
to illustrate the selected area. Zooming out, which returns the
previous view, is done by clicking the zoom out button/item.

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Show grid
Shows or hides the grid. The curve values outside the grid area
are cut regardless of whether the grid is shown or not.
Vertical and horizontal scrolling
The trend curves can be scrolled horizontally by the single and
double arrow buttons on both sides of the "X" button or by the
corresponding Tools menu items. The single arrow buttons scroll
the curves by one step (interval) and the double arrow buttons
by one page (axis length). The functionality of the vertical
scrolling is similar to that of horizontal. Note that the mode is set
to frozen when the curves are scrolled.
Show hairline
Shows or hides the hairline on the upper part of the picture.
When the hairline is shown the value of each trend curve at the
time marked by the hairline is shown on the right side of the
picture instead of the curve sample lines. The time
corresponding to the hairline position is shown beside the
triangular hairline button.
Scroll hairline
The hairline can be moved either by clicking the mouse on the
top of the hairline and dragging it within the grid area, or
stepwise by using the arrow buttons on both sides of the "H"
button or the corresponding menu items. When the hairline is
moved, the trend values are updated.
Show tool bar
Shows and hides the tool bar. Even if the tool bar is hidden, the
tools can be used from the Tools menu.
Trend identification
Shows a dialog with the names and units (if any defined) of all
the trends in the picture.

1.1.2. Tabular Form

In the tabular form up to ten trends can be presented one by one
on a scrollable list, where one line corresponds to one data
registration. These lines contains:
• index
• time stamp
• status

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• value.
A set of trend parameters, e.g. minimum, maximum, sum and
average is presented for each trend. The user can switch from
one trend to another with a click of a button.
On the right side of the list there is a group of fields containing
parameters that are read from the logged process object or
calculated from the data. These parameters are updated every
time the trend picture is updated. The sum and average of
values are drawn in magenta if the trend data contains
registrations with invalid or manually entered status. The unit of
the process object is shown only if the object is of analog or
pulse counter type. The color of the trend number corresponds
to the line color in the graphical form picture.

Fig. 1.3 The trend tabular form

The tabular and graphical form picture have the same presen-
tation mode, i.e. both forms are updating and frozen at the same
time. When in frozen mode, the trend picture is not updated in
order to make it easier for the user to concentrate on specific
trend information. Mode is automatically set to frozen:
• when there are no trends to show
• when the list is scrolled by scrollbar or tools
• when the basket or enter values dialog is opened.

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Otherwise the mode can be selected from the tool bar button or
by opening the presentation mode dialog from the Tools menu.
The tabular form picture has a set of tools, which can be used
either by the tool bar buttons or from the Tools menu. In the
following the functionality of these tools is shortly described.

Fig. 1.4 The trend tools menu for tabular form

Trend Basket
Opens the Trend Basket dialog from which the trends can be
selected and the preconfigurations opened.
Graphical form
Switches the trend picture to show the trends in graphical form.
The tabular form can be returned by the corresponding button in
the graphical form picture, so the two forms can be toggled.
Presentation mode
In this case the tool bar button and the corresponding Tools
menu item function differently. The menu item opens the
presentation mode dialog, where the user can set the trend
picture mode to frozen or updating whereas the tool bar button
toggles between the modes. The current mode is indicated by a
field in the upper right part of the picture.

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Save to file
With this dialog any range of a trend can be saved to an ASCII
file. The default format of the file is .CSV, where the columns are
separated by a semicolon (;). A spreadsheet program, e.g.
Microsoft Excel, can read this file type.
Enter values
With this tool the user can manually enter values into a trend. To
enter values select the enter values button from the tool bar or
the corresponding item from the Tools menu. Then click the line
of the desired registration on the list. The line is shown
highlighted, the presentation mode is set to frozen and the Enter
Value dialog is opened.
Print trend
With this tool the user can print a trend.
Show next/previous trend
These buttons/items bring the next or previous trend to the list.
As stated before, the set of trends is the same as in the
graphical form. When a new trend is shown the list is scrolled to
show the latest registrations.
Scroll page up/down
Scrolls the list one page (32 lines) up or down.
Go to beginning/end
Scrolls the list to show the first or latest registration.
Show tool bar
Shows and hides the tool bar. Even if the tool bar is hidden, the
tools can be used by the Tools menu.

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2. Measurement Engineering Tool

2.1. Overview / Features

This tool is used for preparing the trends using available ana-
logue measurements within the system. These analogue inputs
are defined during the engineering and all of them are at
disposal to measurement engineering tool for making the new
trends or to change existing ones to suite users need. Analogue
values can be assigned to the 15 preconfigured trend pictures
plus one freely configurable. The settings of preconfigured trend
pictures can be changed end stored while it can not be done for
the trend picture without the preconfiguration.
The settings within the freely configurable picture can not be
saved.
Main features:
• Analogue Object parameters definition
• Data storage characteristics
• Maximum data storage duration
• Trend curve assignment.

2.2. Using Measurement Engineering Tool

The Measurement Engineering Tool (MET) is called from the
Engineering sub-menu. During the start MET loads the analogue
inputs from the MicroSCADA database and then shows these
analogue inputs and their status regarding trend assignment. If
analogue point is assigned to the trend it has a mark in the
check box.
To assign an analogue value to the trend first Object parameters
and Trend data object within the MET should be defined. Then it
is possible to add an analogue point to a trend.
It is very likely that many analogue inputs are within the system.
In that case it is advisable to use the Object filter for easier
navigation.

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(f) (d)
(e)

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2.1 Overview of Measurement Engineering Tool.

(a) Object parameters push-button – opens a dialog where

measurement unit, scaling and supervision limits can be
defined (see chapter 2.2.2.)
(b) Trend Data Object push-button – opens a dialog where
update intervals and logging functions can be changed (see
chapter 2.2.3.)
(c) Trend Assignment push-button – opens a dialog where trend
picture name, line style and with, also as Y-axis range can
be defined (see chapter 2.2.4.)
(d) Object Filter – sets a filter by using station, bay and device
name for easier navigation between analogue inputs (see
chapter 2.2.5.)
(e) Load Objects push-button – uploads analogue inputs from
data base
(f) Tool Bar – load and save database objects.

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2.2.1. Tool Bar

a) b) c)

Fig. 2.2 The tool bar of the Measurement Engineering Tool.

Push button Function

a) Load objects from database
b) Saves changes
c) Exits Measurement Engineering Tool

2.2.2. Object Parameters

Fig. 2.3 Object parameters.

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In the Object parameter picture next fields have to be filled:

• Value unit name – according to the measuring unit (e.g. MW
for power, kV for voltage etc.)
• Scaling – defines the type and ratio of scaling. This scale
only refers to pre-engineered scale objects. The combo box
is used to define ratio and type of scaling.

If supervision of limit violation is used then the limits could be

changed. There are four types of supervision limits:
• Alarm High Limit
• Warning High Limit
• Warning Low Limit
• Alarm Low Limit.
Supervision limits should be defined if limit violation is enabled.
When analogue value reaches the supervision limit
alarms/warnings are generated respectively which one has been
reached.
If Zero Deadband Supervision is used then its limit has to be
defined. All values of observed analogue input are suppressed to
zero if they are below the Zero Deadband Limit.

2.2.3. Trend Data Objects

Creates a trend data object for logging samples of trended
analogue value. Sampled values can be stored as a various
types and it can be selected from the Data Storage Function.
When storing a data for trending Data Storage Interval is used.
This interval defines time difference between samples.
Duration of data storage can be entered directly by typing or
using navigation buttons. After storage time has expired data
with expired date are removed from the system.

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Fig. 2.4 Trend data object.

Parameter Description
Data Object Nr. Automatically assigned by the system
Data Storage Function Direct (original) value, average value, sum,
difference, maximum or minimum
Data Storage Interval Can be defined within the range of 30 sec –
10 min
Max. Data Storage Range from min. 1 minute to max. 91 day 23
Duration hours 59 min.

The logging function (i.e. Data Storage Function) can be

selected from the combo box and it determines the calculation
performed before the registration of a process object value. The
four options have the following meanings:
Direct: no calculation, the original value is directly
registered
Mean: the registered value is the mean of the previously
registered values
Sum: the registered value is the sum of the registered
values
Difference: the registered value is the difference between two
consecutive values
In order to avoid irregularity in the datalogs the trends are
cleared when the logging function or update interval is changed.

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To avoid data loss a confirmation dialog is shown when these

parameters are changed.
Note: Data trending uses hard disk for storing. Amount of used
disk space directly depends on data storage interval and max.
data storage duration. Although, other system resources are also
in use for data trending and combination of short data storage
interval and large data storage duration can load the whole
system remarkably.

2.2.4. Trend Curve Assignments

Trended values can be assigned to one or more of predefined
trend pictures.
Following attributes of trend curve can be selected:
• Colour
• Line Style
• Line Width.
If different types of analogue measurements are on the same
trend picture then the Y-axis range can be defined for every type
of measurement. There are 4 Y-axis range groups. For each
group a minimum and maximum value of the Y-axis can be
entered.

Fig. 2.5 Trend assignment.

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Trend pre-configurations can be added, copied, renamed and

deleted. Only the first 15 trend pictures are shown in the sub-
menu measurements.

Parameter
Trend Pre-configuration
(Trend Picture Name)
Trend Curve Colour
Trend Curve Line Style
Trend Curve Line Width
Trend Y-axis Range
Description
- name of the trend picture
- user can select between next colours: red,
yellow black, green, blue, white, light blue,
pink, brown, orange
- solid, on-off dash, double dash
- line width within the range: 1 – 5
- there are 4 groups of Y-axis range, for
each group minimum and maximum Y-axis
value can be assigned

2.2.5. Object Filter

Object filter is used for an easier navigation between the signals.
When Object filter is active user can define criteria for analogue
inputs to be shown on the screen. Only analogue inputs which
matches the criteria defined by the Station, Bay and/or Device
name are shown. Station name, Bay name and Device name
within the Object filter can be used together or separately. There
is a possibility to use an alternative filter that can be configured
using predefined settings or according to user defined
conditions.

Fig. 2.6 Object filter.

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If there are more stations under system supervision, first step is

to choose the station name. Then from the list select Bay name
(or Device name, or both).
After Object filter criteria is chosen an upload of analogue inputs
should be used by pressing the Load Objects icon then signals
which match the criteria are shown on the screen (steps are
marked as 1,2 & 3). In this example, only analogue points which
are related to station ABB and bay D1Q1.

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 IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Experience has shown that reliable operation of our products is

assured, providing the information and recommendations con-
tained in these documentation are adhered to.

It is scarcely possible for the instructions to cover every eventu-

ality that can occur when using technical devices and systems.
We would therefore request the user to notify us directly or our
agent of any unusual observations or instances, in which these
instructions provide no or insufficient information.

We expressly accept no responsibility for any direct damage,

which may result from incorrect operation of this equipment, even
if no reference is made to the particular situation in the User’s
Guide.
ABB Switzerland Ltd
Utility Automation Systems
Brown Boveri Strasse 6
CH-5400 Baden / Switzerland
Phone +41 58 585 77 44
Fax +41 58 585 55 77
E-mail substation.automation@ch.abb.com

www.abb.com/substationautomation

Printed in Switzerland (0309-0000-0)