
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) have for a long time played a vital role in data centre installations. Commercial and industrial enterprises facing unrelenting and ever expanding demand for their online data processing resource have become steadily more dependent on the quality and reliability of power that only an online UPS can provide. Now, developing economical and political trends are putting even more pressure on data centre operators to source the most efficient and flexible power solution possible. Electricity costs are rising sharply due both to increasing per-unit prices and to increasing consumption as server capacity is added. More servers create more demand for limited floorspace. Meanwhile, businesses increasingly need to demonstrate their commitment to a green power strategy and low carbon footprint.
The good news is that recent advances in UPS technology, particularly the change from transformer based to transformerless design, have allowed systems such as Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd’s PowerWAVE Series to meet these stringent demands. Transformerless design brings immediate benefits of more efficient power conversion from a much smaller space; in addition it has allowed Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd to build these benefits into a fundamentally better and more flexible UPS design approach. This evolution can be illustrated by comparing the transformerless design with the transformer based solution that it replaces.
Although different UPS topologies are available, the most popular type is a static online double conversion architecture. This design uses a rectifier to convert the incoming mains to DC for battery charging, then an inverter to convert back to AC to drive the critical load. During normal operation or mains failure the inverter feeds the load. If the battery is discharged or the UPS fails, the load is bypassed to raw mains. This arrangement is equally true for transformer or transformerless design, with the difference being in the implementation of the rectifier, inverter and battery circuits.
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The transformer designs use a phase controlled rectifier, which had several drawbacks. The DC output voltage from this rectifier type was insufficient for the inverter to achieve the same AC output voltage level as the incoming mains supply, which is why a transformer was essential as an integral part of the design. The transformer adds significantly to the size of the UPS, while the phase controlled rectifier is also bulky, as well as creating input harmonic distortion and power factor problems.
Recent advances in power semiconductor technology and the advent of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) device have made the transformerless UPS a viable proposition. The phase controlled rectifier has been replaced by a free running rectifier followed by a DC converter which boosts the rectifier output to a much higher level, allowing the inverter to directly produce an output AC voltage compatible with the original input voltage. The transformer has been eliminated.
This elimination has a significant effect on overall UPS efficiency, improving it by about 5% to yield a substantial reduction in heat loss, electricity costs and cooling costs. This 5% improvement applies irrespectively of how closely to capacity the UPS is loaded.
The transformerless UPS produces an input power factor much closer to unity and less load dependant than the transformer design. This reduces the magnitude of the input currents, in turn minimising the size of the cabling and switchgear, and in some instances, reducing the electricity costs. The improved rectifier can also reduce the total input current harmonic distortion (THDi) in a three-phase UPS from around 30% to less than 3%, considerably reducing harmonic emissions and easing compliance with industry guidelines. Improved battery management also becomes possible.
The savings in space and weight are even more significant. Because a transformerless system eliminates both the 12-pulse rectifier and transformer of the earlier design, the footprint of a 120kVA system shrinks from 1.32m2 to 0.53m2, while the weight is reduced from 1000Kg to 370Kg.
Data centre operators can therefore achieve the space, efficiency and green improvements they need simply by changing to a transformerless design. In an example with a 200kVA UPS supplying a user’s load of 165kVA, the total saving in cost of ownership over five years can amount to nearly £41,000, with nearly 230 tonnes reduction in carbon emissions and a carbon neutral offset of 353 trees.
Apart from these immediate benefits, the transformerless size factor has opened new horizons, by enabling the concept of the PowerWAVE9000DPA modular rackmountable three phase UPS system, which comprises up to five modules within a single rack. Each module is a complete, self contained UPS which can operate in parallel with, but independently from the others. This concept allows Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd to offer users more flexible solutions with better redundancy, availability, resilience and scalability than any previously available solution.
ENDS
About Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited
The UK’s leading supplier of power protection systems in United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Ireland. It backs its PowerWAVE™ products with comprehensive technical installation, commissioning and maintenance services.
The company has recently introduced the PowerWAVE9000DPA Series™ which is the third generation of its renowned rack-mount modular UPS system. It also supplies standby generators, software to monitor and control uninterruptible power supplies and to control the orderly shutdown of critical systems.
In addition to publishing an authoritative handbook on the subject entitled The UPS Handbook (Published in October 2007 – 3rd edition), the company is an Institution of Engineering and Technology Endorsed Training Provider.
Editorial contact:
Richard Broughton
Dryden Brown Limited
Building 2, Shamrock Quay
Southampton, SO14 5QL, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 23 8022 9041
Fax: +44 (0) 23 8022 7274
Email: info@dryden.co.uk