Part 4 – HMIs and Alarms

This section explores HMI design. More often than not, PLC programmers are not well versed in the art of HMI design. Generally, they do not understand how to properly lay out HMIs so operators can easily use them. Normally, HMI development is not touched on in books about PLCs, nor do PLC developers usually have a good grasp of HMI development.

The section also explores alarms. Alarms are used to avoid catastrophic issues and to report potential issues to the operator. Many PLC programmers do not understand how to effectively implement or setup alarms. As such, this section will give you an in-depth look at HMIs, HMI controls, HMI Layouts, alarms, and alarm programming.

This section includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 11, HMIs — UIs for PLCs
• Chapter 12, Industrial Controls — User Inputs and Outputs
• Chapter 13, Layouts — Making HMIs User-Friendly
• Chapter 14, Alarms — Avoiding Catastrophic Issues...