Standardization of Discrete Measurements follows the same concept of Analog Measurements, but Discrete Measurements must transform values into something meaningful to system operators. A typical example are values that inform the status of a Valve, open or closed, in which the value collected by an automation system can be, for example, 0 (zero) or 1 (one).

From an operator's point of view, 0 (zero) may not have any meaning and, therefore, this operator may not be sure about a device's current status. In addition, an automation system may have different devices from different manufacturers, in which in one of them 0 (zero) means open and in another one this same value means closed.

To solve this problem, Elipse Water provides an environment that allows defining types of discrete points in an application, such as Pump and Valve Statuses, as well as relating a meaning for each possible value that such Measurement may display. Types of Discrete Measurements can be configured at run time in the object returned by the DiscreteTypes property of a Water Configuration. The next figure shows the Discrete tab, to create and edit Discrete Measurement standards.

Discrete tab

The area to edit Conversions must be used by the user to register or select different types of Conversions that may exist in an application. Conversions are related to constructive features of the automation system and allow Elipse Water to support different ways to interpret values from the field. The next figure shows the area to create or edit Conversions.

Conversions

The third and last area is used to create or edit possible Statuses or Meanings of a Discrete Measurement, such as a Valve in an Open, Closed or Active position, as well as link them to Source's value, provided by a PLC, to perform a Conversion at run time. Source's values may vary according to the Conversion selected on the second area, while Meanings and descriptions are fixed for all Conversions and depend only on the type of a Discrete Measurement. The next figure presents the area to create or edit Statuses or Meanings.

Statuses or Meanings