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Applying Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Electrical Construction and Maintenance
Tom Bloom ing,Eaton/Cutler-H am m er
Sun, 2002-09-01 12:00

Do you know which decisions are critical to UPS performance and reliability?

Applying an uninterruptible pow er supply (U PS)w ithoutconsidering system issues like output
w aveform ,inputvoltage regulation,generator sizing,transition w ith residualvoltage,backup generators
serving a lightly loaded U PS,and m aintenance,can resultin poor perform ance and reduced pow er
quality atyour facility.

M any low er-end U PS units are nothing m ore than standby

pow er system s (SPS),w hich pass utility pow er through to the
load under norm alconditions.W hen a pow er outage occurs,
the SPS internally sw itches to its backup pow er.Because the
pow er from an SPS is interruptible,itisn'ta true U PS.
H ow ever,an SPS is usefulfor noncriticalloads or those that
can tolerate shortinterruptions.Before specifying an SPS for
PLC or com puter loads,m ake sure the unityou're considering
has a sw itching tim e shorter than the ride-through capability of
the loads itw illserve.

Output waveform.

Because the U PS inverts its internalD C bus voltage to AC,it

w on'tproduce a perfectsine w ave.M ostequipm entcan handle
this distorted voltage w ithoutproblem s,butyou w illhave
efficiency losses and additionalheating ofthe load.Look for a
U PS w ith atleasta quasisine w ave output.You should testthe
outputunder load w ith a handheld scope or other w ave
analysis instrum ent.R egardless ofequipm entspecification,m easure the actualoutputvoltage distortion
under norm alload conditions to determ ine ifyour equipm entcan sustain the U PS outputharm onics.

Input voltage.

Inputvoltage is a system com patibility issue m ostpeople overlook.D on'tm ake this m istake.Ifthe
norm alinputvoltage is low er than w hatthe U PS expects,itw illrecognize this norm alvoltage as an

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undervoltage and sw itch to batteries — w hich is its backup pow er source — and deplete them w hen it
should be running on utility pow er.W hen the batteries run dry,the unitw illsw itch back to utility pow er,
buthere you run the risk ofa sw itching transient.This transientm ay cause an overvoltage,dropping a
criticalload in the process.Even ifthatdoesn'thappen,those depleted batteries w on'tsupportthe load
w hen an interruption occurs.

H ow do you avoid this situation? You could apply a pow er distribution unitw ith an integraltransform er
to boostthe voltage,or choose a m ulti-range U PS.Com m ercially available m ulti-range U PSs often have
an auto-transform er on the inputto properly center the acceptable inputvoltage range on the nom inal
voltage.

Generator sizing.

Facilities often supportcriticalloads w ith a U PS thatsupplies pow er during outages or sags.D esigners
often use a generator and an autom atic transfer sw itch (ATS)to com plem entthe U PS for longer
interruptions.U pon sensing a utility outage,the ATS sends a startsignalto the generator and then
sw itches from utility to generator once the generator has reached proper voltage and frequency.

H ow ever,in addition to providing reliable pow er,the U PS inputproduces harm onics thataffectthe
generator.Likew ise,the generator allow s deeper voltage drops and frequency variations w hen large
m otors start,w hich m ay affectthe U PS.To ensure system com patibility,specify a generator de-rated to
serve harm onic-producing loads like a U PS.The am ountofde-rating depends on the specifics ofthe U PS
you are considering and the load itw illsupply.

M otor starts m ay affectthe inputvoltage to the U PS.W hen a m otor starts under generator pow er,itm ay
affectthe inputvoltage to the U PS by dragging dow n the voltage and m om entarily slow ing allbutthe
largestgenerators.This causes a frequency variation.The rate ofchange offrequency is the slew rate,
m easured in H z/sec.The U PS m onitors the slew rate ofthe inputvoltage.The U PS continues to operate
using this pow er source,converting the AC pow er to D C and back to a clean or conditioned AC
w aveform .H ow ever,ifthe U PS senses a slew rate problem ,or any other problem w ith the inputpow er,it
w on'tsw itch to static bypass in the eventofa failure in the D C path.Instead,itw illdum p the load.

Changing the allow able slew rate setting to acceptthe greater frequency shifts w illreduce the likelihood
ofa problem .H ow ever,adjusting the slew rate tolerance m ightadversely affectthe U PS loads.O ne w ay
to m inim ize slew rate problem s during m otor starting is to purchase an oversized generator.Another
possible solution is to use soft-starts or m otor drives to preventacross-the-line starting,and use control
logic to stagger any m otor starts.

Transition with residual voltage.

Additionalproblem s can arise w hen a U PS synchronizes to out-of-phase m otor residualutility voltages.

A D C bus overvoltage m ay occur,resulting in a frequency error.Itisn'tthe residualvoltage alone that
causes the problem s,butthe presence ofthe residualvoltage w hen your system applies pow er from
another source.

You can address this concern in one ofseveralw ays.For exam ple,you can use load-shedding relays to
shutoffm otor loads prior to a transfer ofpow er in either direction.Installing an optional
synchronization check relay or in-phase transfer feature in the transfer sw itch can also solve the

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frequency error problem .This relay ensures thatw hen tw o sources are available atthe transfer sw itch,
the actualtransfer doesn'toccur untilthe tw o sources are in phase.

Generator serving a lightly loaded UPS.

A generator m ay notproperly regulate its outputvoltage w hen serving a lightly loaded U PS w ith a high
pow er factor (unity or possibly slightly leading).W hen there is an inputfilter on the U PS and little other
loading on the generator,the generator m ay oscillate excessively and cause the U PS to cycle because the
unitfinds the generator pow er oscillations to be unacceptable.This happens because the excitation
currentin a generator is very low during periods oflight,capacitive load.Thatlow currentleads to a
low er synchronizing torque and allow s greater generator variation,thus oscillation.

M any new er U PSs use inputpow er electronics to m inim ize this problem .They don'trequire inputfilters,
so you can apply them w ithoutconcern for causing excessive capacitive load.Ifyou use an inputfilter,
sw itch itoffduring low load conditions.For exam ple,autom atically disconnectthe inputfilters — the
source ofcapacitance — atloads below 30% offullU PS load.

Maintenance.

Ifa load is im portantenough to require a U PS,it's im portantenough to allow for m aintenance w ithout
interrupting it.Large U PSs typically have externaland internalm aintenance bypass sw itches.M any
sm aller U PSs are ofm odular construction,so criticalloads can use redundantm odules or utility pow er
w hile you m aintain or replace m odules.

Econom icalU PS application isn'ta m atter ofbuying the m ostbattery tim e for the leastam ountofm oney
— it's a m atter ofgetting the rightperform ance for the tim e and m oney spent.W hen specifying a U PS,
begin by identifying the criticalloads.Then,look athow m uch U PS those loads w illrequire.O nce you've
determ ined the size ofyour U PS,you can narrow dow n your search to those products thatsatisfy the
requirem ents for com patibility w ith your system .O nce you've installed your U PS to protectyour loads,
be sure to do the proper m aintenance to protectyour investm ent.

Blooming is a senior project engineer with Eaton/Cutler-Hammer, Minneapolis.

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