UPS is of great importance to the electronic devices which requires stable and uninterrupted power. Initially the application of UPS was limited to only computers and servers. However, now a days the usage of UPS is not only confined to computers, but there are a lot more areas where UPS is being used like for telecommunication equipment, household electronic equipments, medical equipments and many more.
Types of UPS
- Standby UPS: The standby ups is the simplest and most economical design of UPS. It is the most common type of UPS used with personal computers. It is called standby UPS because in it the inverter starts only when the power cuts. Otherwise it remained on the standby or battery charging mode.
- Line Interactive UPS: The line interactive UPS is mainly used in small business, web, and departmental servers. In this design the separate battery charger, inverter and source selection switch are replaced by a combination inverter (converter). The inverter serves two purposes, it charges the battery as well as converts its energy to AC for required output.
- Standby-Ferro UPS: The design of standby-ferro UPS depends on a special transformer that has three power connections. The power limit of this UPS ranges from 3 to 15 kva. The primary power path of this UPS is through a transfer switch, through the transformer, and to the output. In the case of a power failure/power cut the transfer switch is opened, and the inverter starts taking the output load.
- Double Conversion On-Line UPS: In this design the primary path is the inverter instead of AC main. In double conversion on-line ups, failure of the input current does not result in activation of the transfer switch, since input AC is charging the backup battery source which provides power to the output inverter. Therefore, during a power cut, on-line operation results in no transfer time. This UPS type provides nearly ideal electrical output performance.
- Delta Conversion On-Line UPS: The delta conversion on-line UPS is introduced after the double conversion on-line UPS to overcome its drawbacks. Its power limit ranges from 5 kva to 1.6MW. However, their are several differences between the double and delta conversion on-line UPS, but the main difference is that delta conversion technology saves energy by carrying the package only the difference (delta) between the starting and ending points. Hence, it is much energy efficient.
Uninterruptible power supply systems are widely used in various applications including:
- Telecommunication equipments
- Computer systems
- Air traffic control systems
- Airport landing systems
- Military applications
- IT industry
- Networking
- Medical equipments
- Data centers
- Household equipment
