Controls/en

Controls

This category allows direct access to all the controls belonging to a facility. It displays information about the name of the control, the status (On, Off, and/or alarmed), and the main probe (the most "important" variable of the control).

List of controls

To see the list of controls available in a facility, you must first access the facility, and then enter the "Controls" subsection.

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When accessing, a list of controls can be displayed. If any of them are available, it will be displayed:

• The name and description of the control.
• The state it has (Connected, Disconnected, and/or with alarms).
• The main probe (the most "important" variable of the control).

Otherwise, a new control can be created by clicking on the icon + (see section Create and edit a control).

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On the other hand, at top right there is some icons used for the following functions:

• Ports: This icon in the shape of an "i" shows additional information about the protocol configuration, port and address assigned to each control. By clicking on this icon you can show or hide this information.

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• Disabled: This icon in the form of a crossed-out circle is used to filter only the controls that are disabled.

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• Connected: This plug-shaped icon is used to filter the controls that are connected, disconnected or all. This icon has three colors, depending on how many times it has been clicked:
  • Gray: shows all controls regardless of being connected or disconnected.
  • Green: shows only the connected controls.
  • Red: shows only the disconnected controls.

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• Grid: This icon is used to change the representation of the controls' list. You can select between a list or a grid view.
• More: The icon + is used to add a new control.
• Magnifying glass: This icon is used to search for a control in the text. The search for the control is performed taking into account the name and the description of the control.

Right-clicking on a control opens a drop-down menu with the following quick configuration options.

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These options, plus others, can also be found by clicking on the 3 configuration points located to the right of each row of a control. The "Duplicate" option allows you to duplicate the control in cases where there are two machines that are the same, to avoid having to create a new control and to take advantage of a control that has already been created and configured.

Sections of a control

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Accessing a control will have the following sections, each represented by a tab:

• SIMPLE VIEW. This tab shows the variables selected as "most important" (assigned as "B" in the view configuration) and are the first to be displayed when entering the control tab.
• EXTENDED VIEW. This tab shows all the input and output variables, plus states, that have been configured as visible in the control view.
• ALARMS. This tab shows the alarms currently present in the control, and a history of the alarms that have been activated at some time.
• COMMANDS. This tab can be accessed only if the user has permissions on setpoints and/or commands. These are the variables configured as commands (sending a direct command to the machine) and/or the variables that have been categorized as setpoints (assigning a numerical value to a variable).
• PARAMETERS. This tab can be accessed only if the user has permissions on parameters in the permissions section. These are the editable write/read variables that define the control configuration. By modifying these variables we can parameterize the operation of the control.
• DOCUMENTATION. It is the section where documents about facility information, controls or other files can be stored. Here pdf, jpg or other files with information about manuals, diagrams, assistance parts, etc, can be added. This information must be attached by the client.
  

Create and edit a control

To create a new control, click on the + icon that appears at top right in the list of controls of a facility. If the control already exists, it can be edited by clicking on the three dots in the list of controls and selecting edit, by clicking on the name of the control with the right button and selecting edit or within the control view by clicking on the "pencil" icon that appears at top right.

All the processes described above lead to the following screen for editing and configuring a control:

• General tab. This tab is for configuring the facility's name and description, in the different platform languages. In order to identify the control, an image can be assigned to the control. Finally, the control can be enabled or disabled.

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• Protocol tab. This tab is for configuring the protocol and the relevant parameters used by the control to communicate with kiBox. If a new control is being created, the first thing we will be asked to do is to select among the different protocols allowed by the kiBox purchased for this facility.

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• Actions tab. This tabs has the following commands:
  • Reload. Perform a forced to reload the information that the platform has inside the kiBox of the facility. It performs a resynchronization between platform and kiBox.
  • Reset. The information of the library is reloaded in this control. All the visibility's configuration of the variables, sampling times, etc, will be erased. It is used to force the loading of the current library information on the control.
  • Test modbus. This button opens a pop-up screen to make requests through the fieldbus on that control to the register address specified.

Edit control - actions tab

• Access API tab.
• Permissions tab. It is used to assign permissions to users as indicated in the section.

Permissions on controls

Ways to access to the permissions of a control: by right clicking on the control and selecting "assign permissions"; by clicking on the 3 dots to the right of the control and selecting "assign permissions" or by editing the control and selecting the "permissions" tab.

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When creating any new item, it inherits the same permissions as the facility, except for "execute commands", "change settings" or "change configuration", as these do not exist in the facility.

Permissions settings panel

Each user or group is displayed in a row. The permissions available to each control and their implication are detailed below:

1. View: Allows the visualization on the object or control appearing to the user in the list of controls.

1. Edit: Allows editing of the object or control. The "pencil" icon is available to edit the object's properties.
2. Delete: Allows deleting the object. The user must have the delete permission on the facility permissions.
3. Create: Allows creating the object or on it, the user must have the create permission on the facility permissions.
4. Execute commands: Allows to execute commands on the control. Only available to see if the user has the proper permission on the facility permissions.
5. Change settings: Allows to change settings or commands on the control. Only available to see if the user has the proper permission on the facility permissions.
6. Change configuration: Allows to change the configuration of the control, accessing and modifying the "Parameters" tab.

These permissions apply only to the selected control. If the same permission settings of an user in several or all the controls needs to be propagated settings, right click on the name of the user or group that you want to propagate the permissions and select the "Propagate" option. This will copy the permission settings of that user in that control to all the controls that have been previously selected.

Propagate option in the permissions configuration panel

Managing the view and control templates

View configuration

The view of a control is the definition for each control variable of its: visibility, location, description, sampling time and alarm level.

To access the view configuration it is necessary to enter the control and click on the cogwheel that appears in the last tab on the right.

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In the screen to edit the view you can see the following sections:

Configuration view of a control

The variables of the control are grouped by their different categories: analog inputs, analog outputs, digital inputs, etc. From the drop-down menu at the top right you can select the groups of variables to be filtered.

When editing the view of a variable, a drop-down menu appears as shown in the following image:

Detail of variable view configuration

NAME: Allows to change variable name.

DESCRIPTION: Allow to add or modify the description that will appear according to the different languages that have been configured on the platform.

ALARM LEVEL: It only appear for variables categorized as alarms. It indicates the alarm level to be assigned if such an alarm occurs in the control:

• None
• Low
• Medium
• High
• Critical

INTERVAL: Allows to indicate the recording interval in seconds. If the value 0 is assigned, this variable will not be recorded in the database, so it will not be possible to save its history or to graph it. It is recommended not to use recording intervals of less than 10 seconds; 60 seconds or more is recommended.

VISIBILITY: The visibility of the variable on the platform must be indicated:

• Eye crossed out. Indicates that this variable is not visible on the platform and therefore is not registered by the kiBox so is not requested through the fieldbus. The variable does not participate in the supervision.
• Normal eye. The variable participates in the supervision. It does not appear in the simple view or in the extended view.
• Eye B. The variable participates in the supervision and will also appear in the simple view list (basic view).
• Eye 1. The variable participates in the supervision and is also visible as the main variable in the controls list. It is also the one plotted as the main variable in the simple view.

If several variables are selected at the same time on the variable list and "edit" is selected with the right button, a specific configuration can be applied to all these variables.

Once all the variables have been configured, click on the "save" button for the final configuration to take effect.

Template management

Once a given view has been configured, it can be saved for reuse in the same or another control using the same library.

To manage these templates, click on the 3 dots at the top right, next to the magnifying glass icon.

Configuration view of a control

The options that will appear are the following:

• Save template: Allows saving the configuration of the current control view. Once clicked, the following pop-up window will appear, where it has to be indicated the name is wanted to be given to the new template. Selecting the name of an existing template will overwrite it.

  

  Manage templates

  The "description" field is used to add information about the template. The Active template field identifies the current template that the control is using to render its view.
• Delete template: Allows the deletion of an existing template.
• Load template: Allows the loading of an existing template in the current control.

There is an option in the controls list that allows to load templates at the same time in several controls. Select the controls, right click on the mouse and select "load templates".

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