Global Monitoring System

On older controls, this feature was known as Global Messaging System.

Configuration

Access the Global Monitoring System

To set up the Global Monitoring System go to Configuration -> Plugins -> Global Monitoring System.

Monitor Control

There are five actions that can be done on a monitor: create, delete, duplicate, import, and export.

To create a new monitor, press the green plus button. This will add an unnamed alarm monitor to the list and select it for editing.

To delete a monitor from the list, select the monitor to be deleted and press the red X button. This will remove the monitor from the list and then select the next monitor.

To create a copy of a monitor, select the monitor to be duplicated from the list and press the button with the two papers on it. This will add a new monitor to the list with all settings copied from the selected monitor.

To import monitors, press the button with the downwards arrow. You will be asked to select the INI file that contains the monitors you want to import. After selecting the file, the monitors that are in that file will be added to the list. If there are any monitors currently configured that are duplicated, the control will ask if you would like to overwrite the existing monitors.

To export monitors, press the upwards arrow button. You will be asked to select which monitors you wish to export, and then asked for a file location to save them to.

The monitor selected in the leftmost list is the one actively being edited.

Configure Action

There are four classes of actions that a monitor can fall under: Alarm, Warning, Notice, and Process. An alarm can take emergency actions, such as disabling the machine. A warning has many actions it can do, and will always prevent cycle start from being pressed while a warning is active. A notice takes no actions, but presents the operator with a message. A process has all the same potential actions a warning has but does not alert the operator and does not prevent cycle start.

After selecting the action class, you can select the specific action this monitor will take when activated.

Some actions allow you to select a secondary action. For instance, a warning with Action: Escalate to Alarm allows you to select what alarm action should be taken during the escalation. There is a field for Action Timing, which is how many milliseconds after the first action that the second action will happen.

Additionally, you can set the actions to repeat while the monitor is active. The monitor will do the first action again, and wait the appropriate time before doing the second action (if there is one configured). This process will loop while the monitor is active.

Custom Actions

If none of the standard actions suit your purposes, you can also create custom actions. This can only be done for the Warning and Process classes of monitors. To create a custom action, select Custom from the action list, and then click on the Customize button next to the action. This button is only enabled when you select the Custom item from the action list. Pressing this button will open a new window.

Here you can create a list of things to happen when the monitor activates. You first select and action type, fill out the details about the action, and then press Add Action. This list can be reordered by selecting an item and using the arrow buttons to move them up or down and the red x to remove them from the list.

An item can be double-clicked on to be edited, and then you should press Update Action to save your changes.

Items will be resolved sequentially in the order they appear in the list, with no pauses in between items.

Setup Details

Most monitors will display an alert when the monitor conditions activate. The information displayed for the alert are edited in the details section of the monitor.

This same section is where you can also password protect a monitor. The password will be needed for editing and clearing the monitor.

Additionally, you can create a register that the monitor will write it's current status to. This will include information about the enabled/disabled state of the monitor and the idle/active state of the monitor.

If your selected action is Execute Script, this section is where you will set which script to run. The configured script should have a .mcs extension.

Lastly, there is an option to disable the entire monitor here. The monitor will not be deleted, but it will not check conditions or activate until the monitor is re-enabled.

Set Conditions

A monitor will do its configured action based on the conditions that are set for it. To edit these conditions, you will need to select the Edit Conditions button. The following window will be displayed.

Conditions are made up of sets and items, where each set can contain items and subsets. Sets determine what logic to use on the items and subsets they contain. There are three options for sets: AND, OR, and NOT. An AND set requires all of its items and subsets to be true before it will say it is true. An OR set only requires that at least one of its items or subsets is true for it to be true. A NOT set requires that all items and subsets are false, in order for it to be true. By combining these sets, complicated logic can be created.

Most monitors will only need a single AND set. To add a new set, select the parent set it should belong to and the set type from the list, and press Add Set.

To add an item to a set, select the item type from the drop down and fill in the details, then press Add Condition.

A common condition is to require the machine to be enabled. To add this condition, select condition type of signal, then output signals, and then machine enabled. After those are selections are made, press Add Condition.

To edit a set, double click on it in the left-hand display. This will allow you to change the set type and press update. Similarly, you can double click on a condition to edit and update the condition.

Pressing OK will save changes and Cancel will discard all changes.

Save Changes

Pressing Save will save all monitors and exit config. Pressing Cancel will discard all changes and exit config.

Common GMS Templates

See the attached ini files to download and import standard GMS functions. 

SpindleWarmupBackup.ini 

If you run a file when the spindle is not warmed up, it will warm up the spindle and then go ahead and run the file. As a safety feature, you can prevent a file from starting until spindle warmup is completed to avoid this issue. 

Diagnostics

The Global Monitoring System icon is on most screens, and will indicate if there is currently an alarm or warning active. If there are no alarms or warnings active, then the icon will be a green checkmark. If there is an alarm or warning active, it will flash a red and yellow error triangle. Clicking on the icon will open the diagnostics window.

     

The diagnostics window will show all configured monitors and their data. The condition tree will show the state of each condition by highlighting true conditions in green. A red condition means that the condition is incorrectly configured and cannot be checked.

Alarms and warnings must be cleared to operate the machine. Pressing Reset on the operator panel will clear alarms. They can also be cleared in the diagnostics be clicking Clear All. Resetting a monitor will transition the monitor back to the idle state and reset the timers on all conditions. If the conditions on a monitor are still true, then the monitor will activate again immediately.

A monitor can be temporarily disabled here. The monitor will continue to check it's conditions and change states, but will not take any actions when it transitions out of the idle state. The monitor will re-enable itself when it transitions back to idle state or when the operator enables it again.

Keywords: GMS, Global Messaging System