Labview-based User Interface for Beamline Equipment Protection System at the Advanced Light

Source Hanjing Huang

Bob GunionKen Woolfe

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

What is Equipment Protection System (EPS)

A system of hardware and software components used to:

• protect the Storage Ring vacuum from contamination

• protect beamline components from thermal damage

• provide operator control of beamline valves and shutters

• This system is not used for personnel safety

Why EPS is different from other scientific control system

• The EPS has to be independent from the data acquisition because it has to be more stable, durable, reliable, and fail-safe. Therefore we use real-time dedicated hardware for EPS.

Components of EPS

• Hardware control system – PLC

• GUI Unit– PanelMate hardware

box or…– PC with Labview

PLC

PanelMate

Modbus

PLC

Modbus

PC with Labview Display

Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)

Device invented to replace the necessary sequential relay circuits for machine control.

Features:• Reliability• Compact size• Simple and easy to install• High speed• Modular design

Real World Applications of PLC

machining, packaging, material handling, automated assembly or countless other industries. Examples include:

• Traffic light

• Automatic car wash

• Automatic soft drink dispensers

• Factory floor automation

Ladder Logic – translating relays into symbols PLC can understand

industry relay schematic diagram ladder diagram

Ladder Logic Programming Software – Proworx

Hardware Control System -- PLC

HMI – Human Machine Interface

Display Hardware and SoftwarePanelMate

PanelMate Display

• High cost -- $5000-$6000 (repair cost $1500)

• Very limited display features, graphics, or animations

• Outdated technology

• Difficult to troubleshoot

• Cumbersome display, spreading over multiple pages

Switching from PanelMate to Labview

Advantages of Labview:

• Runs on low-cost PC

• Single-page display of entire beamline

• Minimum software cost – free Labview runtime license

• Flexibility in content of displays

• Labview programming expertise widespread

Advantages of New EPS I

• Intuitive and friendly HMI

• Easy software simulation for testing and debugging– No hardware involved– Simulated inputs and outputs– Simulate device faults and behavior or valves

and shutters

Advantages of New EPS II

In-house Backend Server Capability– CORBA-based network interface allows

remote monitoring and control– Data logging allows postmortem analysis

• Requested by users and operators• Events are logged into MySQL database• Player = Display program + play panel

6.0.26.1.26.3.1

MB MB MB

Master BRFE

MB

Sector Control

MySQL Database

Player

BLFE

Branchlines Front-end

Remote GUI

Server

Write

Read

MB+

DB

CORBA

Read

6.0.2

MB

Master BRFE

MB

Sector Control

Demo Player

BLFE

Demo EPS

Write

Read

MB+

DB

Simulator

DB

Simulation Setup in Hanjing’s Office

MySQL Test Database

TestServe

r

Read

CORBA

So are you ready? Here comes the demo EPS program. This is a demo EPS program for BL6.0.2. Beamline 6.0.2 is fully functional and operational at the ALS. Ken Woolfe here is going to play with the simulator. Remember how much trouble you have to go through just to open a valve in PanelMate – switch pages to find the valve, then press the touch pad on the bottom to select it, then press the radio button on the side to operate on it? With the new EPS, it is a snap. You just click on the valve and a popup menu appears which allows you to open or close a valve. I am going to go ahead and open the valve (I hope the program is talking to the right server otherwise I will be in trouble). I am going to open a bunch more and you can see the hot red beam running down the pipe. Now the scientist is happily taking beam for his experiment. But suddenly there is an air leak and IG203 is tripped. Notice the ion gauge goes from green to red and both the valves upstream and downstream of it are closed for vacuum protection. The shutter is also closed so that the hot beam won’t burn our valves. Note there is a little red not-symbol next to the valves and shutters. This tell us this device cannot be operated. Click on the not-symbol and it tells you exactly why you cannot operate it. After some damage control, vacuum is back to normal and IG203 is on again. We have a reset required alert here which tells us that a fault happened but it is now OK. We acknowledge the fault and reopen the valves and shutter. Next thing we know, a water flow stopped turning. This caused the shutter to close since this shutter needs water cooling. Click on the not-symbol for the shutter, sure enough, it says shutter is not openable because the water flow switch is faulted. Let’s clear the fault and open up everything. Sometimes a valve can fault too – when there is open command but the valve is not open; it takes too long to open or close; the cables are unplugged accidentally so the valve is neither open nor closed. The simulator is capable of simulating valve faults too. Let’s fault VVR202 and see what happens. Now we fix the valve faults. We also have an alarm page which dutifully logs recent faults. Let’s open it and take a look. Sure enough, all our faults are listed in it.