Pocket Paging Alarm Interface
The Queensland Electricity Commission constructed a $1.65 billion power station at
Stanwell, near Rockhampton, which has enough power to supply
around a quarter of Queensland's needs.
The 1400 MW power station features an alarm monitoring
system, called a "Pocket Pager Alarm Interface" (PPAI) which was developed by
Holman Engineering.
The PPAI has facilitated the decrease in personnel required to man the power station at night
from eight people to just two, providing a substantial cost saving. It is the first time in the
world that this level of automation within a power station has been achieved.
The PPAI interfaces the power station control system and a local area paging system. It allows the whole power station to be operated by only
two people who can freely walk around the plant in full confidence that should a
problem occur they will automatically be paged. The PPAI monitors 25,000 alarm points.
Above is a photo of the Stanwell power station at night, with the insert being a photo
taken inside one of the two control rooms at the power station. The computer in the centre
of the control desk in one of the man/machine interfaces for the PPAI system.
This photo shows the control cubicle (designed by Holman Engineering)
with the door open on the bottom left, the Alarm Interface computer in the middle, and
the file server computer on the right hand side.
The control cubicle contains watchdog hardware which continually checks the integrity of
the PPAI system, all of the communications interfaces, and the hardware to drive a siren and
various other devices.
The photo left shows one of the screens for the man/machine interface.
Holman Engineering's user friendly software enables the operator to use either the
keyboard or the mouse to carry out all functions.
Since developing the PPAI for Stanwell Power Station, Holman
Engineering have provided PPAI systems to 6 other power stations.
Download : Paging.