The alfAlarmÔ Monitoring & telemetry System (AMS) is a low cost, highly efficient solution for industrial and commercial monitoring and telemetry applications. It is designed for the reliable long-term monitoring of unattended or hard to reach technological installations.
The AMS watches limits (i.e. min/max working pressure, temperature etc.) & operating conditions (valve status, slamshut status, leakage, intrusion, etc.) and sends alarms when the predefined values are not met, it also measures & logs process data (pressures, temperatures, etc.) and controls process variables. The user can be sure that he is instantly notified of all exceeded limits or error conditions, enabling him to act in time to prevent any problems.
The system incorporates a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) software and up to 256 Monitoring & telemetry field units ( MFU-s ).
The SCADA software for the AMS was developed by Alfagas to allow maximum application flexibility. The program runs under Windows operating system and is available in 32 bit version. The user can overview the whole system's operation by means of a map and a schematic layout. In case of an alarm the process diagram of the given location ( i.e. gas governor station, etc.), is presented, indicating the alarm level and the device the alarm originated from, therefore the personnel at the supervisory center (control room) can take the necessary actions required. The supervisor can always monitor the operation of any selected process just by connecting to the assigned MFU and viewing it's sampled data in real-time. The user can define multiple alarm levels, and can assign sound-effects to differentiate between alarms.
All incoming alarm messages are consecutively logged in a database, sent to the system printer and forwarded to the standby service personnel via Voice/GSM SMS/GSM E-mail/Personal-caller.
The MFU-s house a system controller, a communication device ( Line-driver, RF-unit, Standard modem, GSM-modem ), an uninterruptable power supply ( Standard mains, or Solar charge-regulated ) and the electronic equipment necessary for interfacing to various meters and sensors. A vast range of options are available to adapt the system to the specific application required by the end-user. The MFU-s measure and analyze the data of a given process at user-programmable intervals, compare it to their pre-programmed limits, and if any of the limits are exceeded, they send an alarm message (via Wire, RF, Telephone-line or GSM ) to the supervisory center in the region. In case of RF communications all MFU-s provide a store-and-forward function, which is very important in case of long-distance radio-telemetry. This means that no radio-repeaters are necessary because the MFU-s will relay all messages between themselves and the control station.
Expansion boards are available for storing process data ( i.e. pressures, temperatures, etc.). The stored data can be downloaded remotely, enabling the user to view, analyze and archive important process information from the comfort of his office.
For security purposes all alarm events are locally logged by the MFU, and are downloadable remotely by the SCADA software.
The soul of the MFU is the C-1677 Controller which incorporates all the functions necessary for communications, measurement, control and data-logging in one compact module, furthermore it's very low current consumption makes it an ideal choice for solar powered applications. The C-1677 controller is capable of using any communication device from a standard line-driver thru a Radio Frequency-unit to a standard/GSM modem. It's multi-tasking software and remote setup capabilities allow the user to change the communications device without having to make any hardware modifications.
Since the communication protocol of the system has been optimized for short burst transmissions ( to enable a more reliable operation in poor RF conditions ) the connection to other industrial standard protocols ( Modbus, Allen-Bradley, HART, etc.) is achieved by adding a special packet controller module to the system.
The application fields of the system are numerous :
- Monitoring and metering of gas pressure regulating and metering stations
- Monitoring and control of oil-field well-heads
- Monitoring and metering of building management resources
- Environmental monitoring and metering
- Monitoring of remote pubic/civil buildings for intrusion or burglary
