Here we define an example equipment model that is used in examples throughout the documentation.

The figure below shows a water pump system where the pump transfers water from the left-side tank (source tank) to the right-side tank (target tank). Furthermore we have defined that the pump turns on when there are more than 900 liters of water inside the source tank and turns off when there are less than 100 liters of water.

The system consists of two tanks, one pump, and piping.

Equipment models

For the example, we define an abstract equipment model Device. All other models derive from this model either directly or indirectly. We can categorize our equipment as either electrical or mechanical devices. Therefore, we define abstract equipment models Electrical device and Mechanical device. Both of these inherit the Device.

We define three concrete equipment models: Pump, Pipe, and Tank. The pump is considered an electrical device, so Pump inherits the Electrical device abstract equipment model. Pipes and tanks are mechanical devices, so Pipe and Tank inherit the Mechanical device. Since all our concrete equipment models directly inherit either Electrical device or Mechanical device, they all indirectly inherit the Device equipment model.

Model hierarchy

Below we can see the model hierarchy as explained above, where Device is our abstract equipment model and other models derive from this.

Device
├── Electrical device
│   └── Pump
└── Mechanical device
    ├── Pipe
    └── Tank

Model definitions

Next we can define our models attributes and properties.

Model attributes

Model properties

Device

Pipe

Pump

Tank

Equipment instances

Then we can look at our Equipment Instances created for our example model. The instance hierarchy will show all the devices in our example model and further down, instance paths will show the full paths for each instance.

Instance hierarchy

Example site
├── Tank area
│   ├── Source tank
│   └── Target tank
├── Pipe
├── Flowback pipe
└── Pump section
    └── Pump

Instance paths

Property values

Here is a listing of the property values for all our equipment instances. Historized properties are marked with "-", since their values are constantly changing.

Source tank

Target tank

Pump

Pipe

Flowback pipe

Example installation:

ExampleWaterTransferSystem.exe creates this model and their instances automatically:

#Requirement: a running RTDB_CVMCServer
ExampleWaterTransferSystem.exe --install -c <RTDB Location>
#Remove the service:
#ExampleWaterTransferSystem.exe --remove -c <RTDB Location>

User can start and stop services in RTDB.INI.

Tutorial

We have created a tutorial of our water pump system that will help you get started. Please find the tutorial here.

Other recommended reading

• Our Engineering UI may also be used in creating Equipment Models. More information here.
• Designing a dashboard is easy with our ABB Ability™ History View. More information under designing a dashboard.
• Dashboard step-by-step tutorial will give you detailed instructions on how to create your own dashboard and widgets.