Feature UPS & Standby Power


he uninterruptible power supply (UPS) market has been shaped by the significant increase in IT capac- ity, pressures to ‘go green’, the need to reduce operating costs and require- ments to use space more effectively. Whilst many believe that the greatest efficiency advances have been made in transformer-free UPS design, it could be argued that it is actually transformer- based ones that have experienced the most impressive developments in advanced technology, which have enabled them to achieve greater opera- tional efficiency.


When reinforced by the unarguable fact that some transformer-based UPS solutions can now match their trans- former less counterparts in terms of effi- ciency, it becomes evident that transformer-based technologies have without a doubt evolved dramatically. Having said that, some transformer- free systems have radically improved in power protection performance and therefore, it would be fair to say that both solutions provide important mea- surable benefits and neither one should be overlooked. Borri director, Mark Trolley com- mented, “Both technologies have signif- icant roles to play and to get the best out of each they must be chosen based on the requirements of the end user and their operational environments. “Too often we see the wrong purchas- ing decisions being made, where cus- tomers have bought a UPS based on its ‘on paper’ credentials which, when in practice, have not been fit for purpose. Because Borri manufactures both types of UPS technology and is not biased towards either, it is able to evalu- ate a customer’s exact needs and recom- mend the best solution.”


UPS efficiency explained As the industry continues to demand greater efficiency, it must also under- stand the trade off that higher effi- ciency ratings can mean for resilience if it is to make the most viable purchasing solutions. All of Borri’s UPS systems have been designed with ultimate power protec- tion as their primary function. Its most resilient solution is its transformer-based B9000FXS and B9600FXS, which can achieve efficiency greater than 95% at part loadings. Because of this Borri’s


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Green, efficient and fully protected T


With the UK storing approximately £24bn worth of data, UPS solutions have become an essential part of business infrastructures and manufacturers have had to continuously embrace new technologies in order to keep up with the fast and ever changing demands of these critical back-up power systems, as Borri explain


Where once a transformer would have placed a huge drain on UPS effi- ciency, significant investment in research and development now means that Borri’s transformer-based systems only lose one percent in efficiency, against a standard transformer-free solu- tion, which are now claimed to achieve 96% efficiency.


Above: all of Borri’s UPS systems have been designed with ultimate power protection as their primary function


B9000FXS and B9600FXS, covering 60 - 800kVA units, have achieved a place on the Energy Technology Product List (ETPL) list.


Below: Borri can help any type and size business map out its power


protection strategy


It is important to note that some man- ufacturers still set their UPS outputs at 240V to demonstrate higher efficiency, which goes directly against the agree- ment made by the UK when it joined the European harmonisation regulation measures. Borri sets all of its UPS out- puts to 230V in line with the L-N volt- age parameters, which gives its systems true efficiency ratings. A transformer-based UPS will always be the most resilient. So, its main pur- pose is to support critical applications such as emergency services, transporta- tion networks and essential IT infra- structures such as the banking sector, which will only specify a transformer- based solution. However, depending on the level of risk that can be factored in will depend on how much additional efficiency can be gained.


Further efficiency gains can be achieved by running the UPS in an eco-mode, which are available in many different guises, depending on the manufacturer, but principally deliver the same main function of feeding the load through bypass line, with the UPS inverter on ready to switch within 2- 4mS). This should achieve 98-99% at full load, but does depend on whether other parts of the UPS, such as the bat- tery charger, are switched off for set periods of time. Although developed in the early 1990s, transformer-free UPS systems have only recently closed the gap with the integration of common UPS technologies.


The choice


For a large percentage of the industry, efficiency has been the top priority but there is a 4.5% reward difference between maximum protection and max- imum efficiency. Transformer-based systems are by their design, heavier and larger and in the case of Borri’s equipment, they will provide unfailing power protec- tion and should be the only choice for critical applications. In contrast, transformer-free solutions are lighter and more compact, so they take up less floor space, are easier to commission and more cost effective to manufacture. However, what they gain in efficiency can be lost in resilience. That is not to say that these do not per- form and thanks to vast improvements in transformer-free technologies, there is very little margin in the performance of Borri’s two systems.


Borri recognises market demands for both technologies and can help any type and size of business to map out its power protection strategy, weighing out the importance of efficiency over performance or vice versa.


Borri www.borri.co.uk T: 0800 136 993


Enter 219 JUNE 2013 Electrical Engineering


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