Computer Recipes

We are all aware that our daily needs as far as energy goes is generally provided by a single utility power source; this however, is not probably the best way to be as a lone supplier may at times get overloaded, meaning a power cut. It is in such a situation that we need an UPS to provide us with an uninterrupted power supply.How do we know which one to choose and which one is good?

As is known, uninterruptible power supplies or UPS are a back up source of energy that provide emergency power to devices that are connected to it until the main utility source is restored or the equipment safely switched off. Places such as hospitals rely on an uninterrupted power supply to save lives. It deters serious situations by keeping the power supply on all the time.

But how can we tell which uninterruptible power supply is appropriate for us. There are two primary kinds of uninterruptible power supplies, the on-line and the line interactive UPS systems. The on-line uninterruptible power supply utilises the ‘double conversion’ technology wherein it takes in the AC input that is available from the main utility source and converts it into DC power, which is required for it to pass through the battery and again changes it back to AC power to run the connected equipment.

The line interactive uninterruptible power supplies have an internal or in-line inverter that transmits the DC power of the battery from the standard charging form to supplying energy during an emergency power failure. This UPS system is similar to the stand by or off-line UPS system but it has a flexible electrical transformer that has the ability to increase or decrease the magnetic field and therefore produce a different voltage to that of the transformer. Without using up the stored energy it is able to withstand constant high voltage surges and low voltage brownouts.

An on-line UPS is perfect for situations where there are extreme voltage fluctuations and the equipment connected to it is highly sensitive. The line-interactive and the stand-by UPS are slightly cheaper than this one and were once used only in large consumption installatiions. However, they are now available in smaller consumer equipment that use about 500watts of power. Large industries that have vast numbers of noise-making equipment generally will use this as they are convenient to this type of environment. Apart from this they may require a back up generator to supply an uninterrupted power supply to these equipments.

They are more expensive than the other two types of UPS systems for the sole reason that they have a powerful AC to DC converter with advanced cooling systems that allow them to efficiently provide energy sources to your equipment. No power transmission switches are required on this on-line UPS system as the converter moves out of the circuit when there is a power cut and then when it is connected back to the main power supply it will resume charging.

Based on these two designs and their functions, you can decide which uninterruptible power supply system is right for you. Uninterruptible power supply will always provide you uninterrupted power no matter what your situatiion; this is regardless as to whether this is for home, office or a large organisation.