In the Market for an Industrial Annunciator? Here's a Guide to Help

Alarms and Annunciators

Annunciators are found in industrial control rooms, boiler rooms, power substations and just about any type of process control operations room where the process conditions need to be closely monitored and where constant status indication is important.

Here is an outline for the primary selection criteria for an integrated logic alarm annunciator:

Chassis

Panel mount
Surface mount
Rack mount

Alarm Points

How many alarm points do you have? Annunciators break down alarm points by "cell" and you call out the number of cells based on the layout desired. For instance, a 1x4 would be 1 annunciator cell tall by 4 cells wide.

Pushbuttons (and Location)

Occupying bottom right module cell space
On the bottom right trim of the chassis
Located remotely

The Available Panel, Box or Cabinet Space Available

Dictates how alarm points and pushbuttons are arranged.

Networkable or Stand-alone?

Configuration via software?

Event recording?

Do you need electrical outputs?

Audible and visual signals: horn, beacon, bell
Common Trouble Alarm (CTA) Relay: notification of any alarm within the system (commonly used for remote beacon or dial-up)
Group CTA functions: for critical and noncritical groups
Auxiliary Contact Repeat Relay: individual repeater output per input
Reflash Alarm Relay: alarm counter

Field contact voltage?

Source voltage?

Alarm type grouping?

For a detailed annunciator selection guide (courtesy of RONAN Engineering) visit this annunciator selection guide link.