Definition
An IGSS type is a system template that ensures that you provide all the necessary information about each process component you define.
It reflects real life in the sense that different kinds of information is required for different types of objects. For example, for a motor you need to be able to start and stop it and know its maximum capacity. For a temperature gauge you need to tell IGSS the accepted temperature range and the unit of measurement.
Use
Each time you define a process component (an IGSS object), it must have the properties of one of the IGSS types. When the relevant type is selected, you are automatically guided through a definition sequence ensuring that you provide all the necessary information.
IGSS types
The following nine types are used in IGSS. For a detailed description of each type, click on the type name.
Area, diagram and graph are non-process objects, that is, they do not represent a physical process component, but they are containers of other objects. The scaling object is an internal object used to convert one set of values to another. The string object is used to display messages related to the process. The remaining object types (analog, table, counter and digital) represent physical process components.
Type versus template
As you can see, an IGSS type is a generic system template. When building configurations you will often see that many real life components are similar or share a number of properties: one type of valve may be closed, half open and open, one type of level gauge may measure levels between zero and 1000 m3. To automate the definition of such components, IGSS includes a facility to define your own templates - based on a system template - when components are identical or share several properties. A template holds all the information which is common to this set of objects. Templates make it very fast to configure and to make several similar configurations. Click here for further information about templates.