Equipment Staging Sequencer Sequencing
A toy plant, not your plant — identical units on a common header, staged by a simplified sequence to build a feel for the knobs. New to staging? Start with the explainer →
Plant Configuration
Run
Event log
- Press Play — staging, rotation, and fault events land here.
What Each Knob Does
The sequence answers two questions continuously: how many units to run, and which ones. The thresholds and timers answer the first; the lead/lag strategy answers the second. The Equipment Staging explainer walks through the why — this is the quick reference for the controls above.
| Knob | What it does |
|---|---|
| Stage up / down % | Per-unit load — demand spread across the running units — that adds or drops a unit. The gap between them is the deadband; it must be a real gap or the plant hunts (cycles a unit on/off at the line). |
| Stage delay | Demand must stay across the line this long before the sequence acts, so a brief swing doesn't churn the plant. |
| Minimum stage time | Locks out the next stage change for a while after one happens — short-cycling is hard on motors, starters, and the equipment. |
| Fixed lead | Unit 1 always leads. One unit logs all the hours while the rest stay cold — watch the runtime spread run away. |
| Runtime-equalized | The lowest-hour idle unit comes on next; the highest-hour running unit drops first. The bars converge — the set wears as one. |
| Scheduled rotation | The lead role moves to the next unit every interval regardless of hours — the simplest rotation, and what many plants ship with. |
| Trip lead | Faults the current lead; the sequence promotes a standby at once. If no healthy unit is free to cover, you get a capacity shortfall — the reason a plant is built N+1. |
The clock is sped up for the demonstration — the stage delay and minimum-stage-time you set are simulated seconds, so at a faster clock speed they pass quickly. Real-plant values run on the order of several minutes each. The day-load curve is a single smooth peak (low overnight, a midday/afternoon high); leave it on Follow day-load and the plant stages and rotates hands-free, or switch to Manual to drive the demand slider yourself.