Crunching the numbers on the costs of a power outage is easy. Knowing the ROI of an uninterruptible power supply solution is difficult because many factors hang in the balance. The complexity of an uninterruptible power supply project can be difficult enough to make your head spin.
UPS solutions from Eaton Australia have been an essential component of businesses for decades. They protect the IT systems that our businesses run on from power surges and outages. But, in recent years, traditional uninterruptible power supplies have started to fall out of favor with server administrators. Today’s IT environments are being powered by newer solutions such as virtualization, cloud computing, and BYOD (bring-your-own-device). This has made the need for choosing only one UPS solution obsolete.
For any business to survive, it needs to have reliable power. If your business needs an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), you will have to consider purchasing a few different types. Wouldn’t it be easier if someone listed the top 4 and advantages/disadvantages to each?
1. Line Interactive UPS
Line Interactive Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems are utilized by homeowners and small business owners who want protection from power surges and power outages. A Line Interactive UPS is a great option for home use since they cost less and have lower energy costs since they do not require an external transformer. These smaller capacity Line Interactive systems can hold enough battery backup to run various components of an average-sized home for approximately 20 minutes, which gives the user time to safely shut down their computer and other sensitive electrical equipment prior to a power outage.
2. Ferro-Resonant UPS
Ferro-resonant Uninterruptible Power Supply (Feral-Resonant UPS) is very similar to online UPS. Ferro-resonant UPS (or frequency-controlled UPS in higher voltage applications) is a type of UPS designed to provide load power from the time the input power begins to fail until battery supply becomes available. These devices can give long power reserve under normal load, whereas a standby battery-based device cannot do more than save the computer’s state during brief overloads.
Concisely, it means that the emergency power provided by F.R.UPS to the load doesn’t have any phase difference between source and load. Ferro-resonant’s name comes from the fact that a special type of LC tank circuit is used in this UPS, which oscillates at the resonant frequency of the inductor and capacitor.
3. Online UPS
An online UPS would maintain a constant power source to your equipment even during a blackout. It would ensure an uninterrupted power supply by converting direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) and vice-versa. Online Constant Voltage UPS Systems strives to keep the product voltage in a range acceptable to AC equipment connected to the load.
Current implementations of the online UPS system require a constant connection from the battery to the load. This keeps the equipment powered as long as there is battery charge remaining, but it also means that, while equipment is being powered, there is current constantly flowing around the three phases of the 120 VAC system.
4. Offline UPS
The battery in an offline UPS is used only for a few seconds to power the system through disruption. Afterward, it is recharged by mains power. This means that if there is a lengthy disruption in mains power supplies, the batteries will run down. When this happens, you need to replace or “recharge” the battery pack using a generator or mains electricity.