Power outrages can occur anytime. Don’t wait till all goes dark or stops functioning!

If we wish to prevent data loss or keep production lines undamaged during a power outage, installing an uninterruptible power supply system may be the best solution to consider.

Investment costs are infinitesimal compared to what you might stand to lose during an actual outage. Furthermore, once a system is set up, with proper maintenance it will guarantee an uninterruptible power supply for 6-8 years. In order to develop a clear picture of how uninterruptible power supplies work, we turn to electrical Engineer, Károly Nagy, Project Leader of Persecutor Kft.

PERS.:  WHAT ARE THE HAZARDS WE CAN AVOID BY EMPLOYING AN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY? WHY ARE THESE ESSENTIAL?

KN.: By employing so called UPS (uninterruptible power supply) appliances we can avoid damage caused by brief power outages, given that the devices connected to the system are continuously powered by the batteries connected to the UPS, in accordance with the premeditated backup time. This for example can be critical for computers managing data-processing or production processes where production cannot be halted even for short periods of time without the risk of damaging production equipment. Hence the utilisation of UPS equipment is vital in such cases.

PERS.: BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCE WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE FINANCIAL RAMIFICATIONS OF A POWER OUTAGE?

KN.: No general estimation exists for all cases, since all losses are determined according to the specific technological process that goes down. For example, it is difficult to tell, what exact losses will occur when a corporate email goes down versus a home page, since an outage of the corporate email server yields different consequences than not being able to log on to Facebook.

PERS.: WHAT ASPECTS AND PARAMETERS NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN BUILDING AN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM?

KN.: Major parameters to consider when developing an uninterruptible power supply:

  • What is the time frame the client requires the UPS to function? Here it is crucial to determine whether there is an alternate power source to switch to when suffering an outage other than the UPS system. If there is an alternate source then the UPS equipment only needs to kick in during the switch from one to the other. If there is no alternate power source, it could mean a backup period of up to an hour.  It is theoretically possible to provide even longer backup periods, however it is not economical since in such cases the building of an alternate power source is recommended.
  • What type of consumer are we dealing with; considering the fact that different types of UPS equipment are recommended for supporting say industrial equipment and another one for supporting computers.
  • Standby period of the system, in view of the fact that in some cases a single piece of UPS equipment is sufficient while in other cases one might need 1+n or 2n redundancy equipment.

Naturally, there are more parameters to consider than the above when making a selection which can all be determined after consulting with the client in question and determining their needs.

PERS.: WHY IS IT RECOMMENDED TO START WITH AN AUDIT?

KN.: As stated above, the most important aspect is to determine the customer’s needs considering that there are multiple varieties and grades of UPS equipment available and in order to ascertain the optimal solution for the relevant business, an audit is essential.

PERS.: HOW HAS THE CONFIGURATION OF UPS EQUIPMENT CHANGED IN RECENT YEARS? WHAT VARIETIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FROM A CORPORATE POSITION?

KN.: In recent years a lot of development has taken place with regards to UPS technology. This however is not to say that every user requires the most recent technological solution, rather, that thanks to the multi-faceted utilisation of the technology, development is based more and more on user feedback and requirements.

For example:

  • When it comes to industrial equipment the emphasis should be to install UPS equipment that is best suited to withstand environmental impacts as well as ideally handle outages due to non-ideal environmental aspects. Considering that in such cases we are dealing with smaller performances, the efficiency of such equipment is somewhat smaller in order to achieve the above mentioned advantages.
  • Where Data Centres are concerned, the UPS equipment can operate under ideal circumstances practically in every case, however considering that such equipment functions under much greater performances, reliance and greater efficiency are the main paths for future development in this area, given that when it comes to greater performances, even a slight increase in efficiency can lead to significant economic gain.

PERS.: WHAT EXTRA FEATURES DOES A “SMART” UPS OFFER COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL VERSIONS? DO THE SMART UPS UNITS INCREASE EFFICIENCY FOR ENERGY MANAGEMENT?

KN.: Nowadays all high performance UPS equipment is considered “smart” if it is capable of measuring and forwarding all in, and outward bound network data to a central monitoring system or is capable of indicating this data on its own display.

PERS.: WHY DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO UPGRADE FROM TRADITIONAL VERSIONS?

KN.: According to our experience, UPS equipment made nowadays should be replaced 6-8 years following installation. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, worn out batteries need to be replaced. Secondly, during the time that has passed there is usually a much more modern piece of equipment available and when calculating TCO (total cost of ownership) it is more economical on the whole to upgrade than to just replace batteries.

PERS.: HOW TIME CONSUMING IS IT TO REPLACE A COMPLETE SYSTEM CONSIDERED STANDARD IN HUNGARY? HOW DOES THE INSTALLATION TAKE PLACE?

KN.: This is always determined by customer requirements and the equipment in question. In uncomplicated cases where the existing equipment has to be replaced with a similar but more advanced system, the work can be performed even in a day. In more complicated cases where even the self-sufficient electrical system has to be adjusted e.g. due to a performance expansion or a supply schema image change, operations can take many weeks, depending on requirements. Of course I did not include in the above the time needed to perform a preliminary survey, planning and workshop time and these activities all need to be performed as well.

PERS.: WHAT IS THE PAYBACK PERIOD FOR A COMPANY?

KN.: In our case there is no concrete time frame that can be specified, considering the fact that this investment serves to increase protection and is not a productive investment. If we look at the security side of things then the investment can show a return during the very first power outage, since the equipment used is generally cheaper to replace than an entire industrial production line. Furthermore, in the case of a data centre, the value of the data lost during a power outage, be it a social site or a data centre storing company information is incomparable to the value of the equipment.

Author: Gergely Farkas