Huwebes, Mayo 7, 2015

Uninterruptible Power Supply Q&As

qa uninterruptible power supply
Image Source: https://admissionblog.usc.edu/
We often hear a lot nowadays the device so called UPS or uninterruptible power supply. Just for a breather, UPS is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source typically main power, fails. For a newbie, I know that there are a lot of question marks that are now floating above your head. Below are the beginner’s questions regarding UPS and we provide answers for your sake.

Q. What is a UPS?
A. UPS is an abbreviation for uninterruptible power supply; it is a back-up battery for a computer or other electronics system in the event of a power failure (blackout) or other electrical line problems. In the occurrence of a blackout, for example, your computer would continue to draw power from the UPS thus allowing you to save your work and shutdown your system properly without data loss or interruption of service.

Q. What provides the power when the main supply fails?
A. There is a battery inside the UPS and it is the one who takes over and produces fresh alternating current via an inverter. Though these are usually lead-acid batteries, the acid is in the form of a gel and the batteries are sealed and require no maintenance.

Q. How long the batteries will last?
A. It depends upon the specification of the batteries. On larger equipment (around 5kVA) you can often specify 10-year design life batteries.
More over battery life depends upon a number of issues, particularly temperature and the number of what so called “deep charges” experienced. Battery life is halved every 10 degrees C temperature increase above its specified operating temperature (usually at 25 degrees C).

Q. What is a power surge? 
A. Power surge is a rise in voltage that goes beyond normal levels, potentially overloading any active equipment.

Q. Are there any types of uninterruptible power supply?
A. Yes there are two types of UPS. The most common type is the AC/AC, where the energy source is the AC line (wall outlet) and the output is the same voltage through an inverter. The second type is the most efficient one –AC/DC, where the UPS delivers the DC voltages needed by the system.

After reading this, I hope that the questions marks in your head are now gone. UPS really is a great help for our electronic apparatus. I have one at home bought at Panther and it is great! Grab yours too!

More on UPS:
Why Mom was right about UPS?