There a number of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS System) technologies offered, all of which have a variety of pros and cons. This article intends to assist guide you within the correct option for your application. Get extra information about view website
All UPS Systems consist of a rectifier which converts your regular mains AC power into DC power, an inverter that converts DC power into AC power, and an energy storage medium which can be normally lead acid batteries.
You'll find 3 major UPS technologies - Offline, Line Interactive and Online Double Conversion - and two diverse varieties of inverter - square wave (also called pseudo-sine wave or modified sine wave) and sine-wave.
An Offline UPS delivers standard levels of power protection. There is certainly commonly a degree of surge suppression incorporated and when the input mains voltage goes out of tolerance (that's too high/low or fails) the UPS inverter starts up and delivers power to your equipment. There is certainly a break inside the mains provide when this happens in the region of 10-20 a huge number of a second that will commonly go unnoticed by the majority of equipment. The inverter in offline UPS is almost nearly always a square wave.
A line interactive UPS is comparable to an offline UPS but has the added benefit of voltage regulation. This implies that it's going to lessen the mains voltage if it goes too high (known as "buck") or raise the mains voltage when it goes also low (referred to as "boost"). It is going to do that without having reverting to battery and therefore conserve battery life. Due to the fact a line interactive UPS has an inline transformer, additionally, it supplies in-built filtering and hence a larger degree of power protection. Like the offline kinds, there's also a break throughout the transition from mains power to battery power. In higher good quality line interactive units, this break may very well be as low as only 2 to 4 thousandths of a second. Line Interactive UPS Systems come with square wave in addition to sine wave inverters.
The online double conversion UPS System is deemed by a lot of to provide the highest levels of power protection. The inverter is always on, and supplies power for the load. This means that there is no deviation in output voltage and no break in the event the UPS reverts to battery power. The output waveform in an online UPS System will nearly constantly be a sine-wave, normally of really premium quality and can boost the operation of certain equipment. An online double conversion UPS also includes a bypass circuit, which allows power to become continually fed to your load even if the UPS develops a fault or is overloaded.
In picking out your technology you need to think about:
The power consumption of your load
The kind of load you have
How important your load is
The environment in which the UPS will sit
The essential runtime
Your budget
Your typical UK socket outlet is rated at 13Amps which implies the most power you can draw from a UK outlet is 3KVA, or 3KW. (Power Measurement will be covered within a separate paper). Above this level (for specialist equipment, or hardwired installations) most UPS will be online double conversion technology because the economies of scale start off creating other technologies non price successful. Below this level, however all technologies are out there, even though above about 2KVA, line interactive systems start to turn into heavy and unwieldy as a consequence of the size of transformer that's required.
In case your load is produced up of laptop or computer type power supplies, then each square wave and sine wave products will power this equipment adequately. In case your load includes motors, transformers, pumps or other inductive components (on the input power provide) then square wave systems usually are not suitable and also you have to choose a sine-wave system.
Any load that is susceptible to mains disturbances such as in analytical equipment or audio applications ought to also select a sine-wave system. Exactly where mains distortions have an effect on equipment overall performance then you definitely really need to choose online double conversion where a pure sine-wave is always present.
In case your load is critical for operation then the improved benefit of online double conversion technologies should be used. This delivers further security against all power disturbances as well as the comfort of a fall-back bypass in case a fault develops using the UPS. You could possibly want to parallel with each other UPS and again, this can only be accomplished with online double conversion UPS. (We'll cover parallel systems and redundancy inside a separate paper). If you have a Computer exactly where that you are searching for basic battery backup to stop annoyance rebooting or tripping then an offline or line interactive unit would suffice.
Offline and line interactive UPS Systems are generally quiet in operation and don't utilise cooling fans in typical operation (usually). This signifies they may be appropriate to be placed in an office or home atmosphere. Online Double Conversion UPS systems call for forced cooling and can be very noisy and consequently tend to not be appropriate for use in an office environment.
In the event you are running your UPS in conjunction with an emergency backup generator then the benefits of online double conversion technology come to the fore, as the UPS will cover for any transition to generator operation as well as give a continuous unchanging power supply for the duration of generator start off up and any shifts that may possibly happen in frequency and or voltage through load switching.
Offline UPS tend to become the smallest of all technologies so may be useful to supply emergency ride by way of for places exactly where space is at a premium.
Long runtimes on UPS are improved handled with online UPS Systems. This is for the reason that they are designed to operate continually from the inverter. In which case it doesn't matter in the event the input power is in the rectifier or the battery - the operation is the same. Offline and Line Interactive units tend not to be designed for this continuous operation. (Battery selection and runtime will be covered within a separate paper.) It is also unwise to power any equipment having a square wave inverter for any prolonged time frame as you might bring about degradation to electronic elements. Square wave systems are designed to let standard laptop or computer systems to ride via short power outages or time for you to shut down a system in the occasion of a prolonged power reduce.
You could have currently produced up your thoughts which technology you will need, but let's take a look at relative costs. Offline UPS systems used to be by far the cheapest. On the other hand today an offline UPS in addition to a line interactive square wave unit are typically comparable prices. Online Double Conversion used to become much more pricey than other technologies, but now is comparable to a premium quality sine-wave line interactive UPS.
With regard to running charges, the offline UPS may be the most efficient as in regular operation the input power goes straight via towards the load, so the only power loss would be to hold the battery float charged and power the UPS logic. Line Interactive units are similar in efficiency but experience a lot more losses because of the transformer necessary for the buck and enhance facility. Online Double Conversion even so, has the drawback of being the least efficient of your technologies.
In summary, for simple low cost battery backup then the offline or line interactive square wave systems are appropriate. For high grade protection within a quiet atmosphere, or where your load form demands it, choose a sine-wave line interactive unit. Even so, if you would like the top power solution, then we recommend online double conversion technologies because it is compatible with all load types and supplies the highest degrees of power protection.
