Feature UPS Upgrades Is it time for a refresh?
Curt Cowdrey, UK sales manager at Powertecnique, discusses the importance of refreshing legacy UPS units to reduce physical and carbon footprints, increase energy efficiency and system resilience
Left: Powertecnique’s eKasar range is typically up to 96.5% efficient with an approximate output power factor of 0.9
CCL (climate change levy) tax. The CCL is an additional tax for the use of non-renewable energy that public sector organisations pay directly through their energy bills. The aim is to encourage energy effi- ciency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of tax directly correlates with the amount of fuel that is used so if the organisa- tion can reduce its energy consump- tion, it pays a lower CCL.
Loads U
pgrading and refreshing legacy UPS systems can be very beneficial, particularly when it comes to saving
energy. Basically, power is expen- sive, and no one wants to spend more than they have to with their mains power provider.
Because of the rapid development of UPS technology in recent years, there are considerable savings to be had from upgrading dated equipment with newer, energy efficient replacements. It is possible to calculate an accurate return on investment (ROI) for how much energy is saved versus expendi- ture on the upgrade, and this often cre- ates a compelling business case to refresh the equipment.
Another area of saving is around how much heat is generated by the UPS. New units generate less heat, which means that surrounding air conditioning (AC) doesn’t need to work as hard. Cooling a room can be expensive and reducing the need to cool saves on energy.
Older UPS are more challenging to support. Capacitors and fans need changing over time, and printed cir- cuit boards can burn out and need replacing without any advanced warn- ing, resulting in risk of unsupported loads. Not only will a more modern UPS save on power consumption and produce less heat but it will also be less likely to fail and will prevent additional, unnecessary maintenance for the air conditioning and UPS unit. Depending on the technology, the new unit will reduce energy consump- tion and costs, including savings on
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Legacy units have a poor efficiency rating with lower loads, whereas the newer technology UPS units have effi- ciency curves that are much higher, meaning they produce more efficiency even at lower loads (see chart below). IT and server equipment loads typi- cally change every two or three years, yet legacy UPS units are often almost ten years old and offer poor power effi- ciency. New UPSs can support much more than older ones - their output power factor is higher, closer to 0.9 for an energy efficient range - so you get more power for your money. Powertecnique’s eKasar range is typ- ically up to 96.5% efficient with an approximate output power factor of 0.9, and units show fewer losses. A traditional transformer-based UPS system would offer an efficiency rating of circa 92% at 100% load, 90% at 50% load and 89% at 25% load. New technology products such as the eKasar range would produce energy effi- ciency ratings of 96% at 100% load, 96.2% at 50% load and 95.7% at 25% load. The efficiency savings are particu-
Right: an efficiency comparison
between legacy and new UPSs
larly relevant on installations where an N+1 philosophy has been adopted, as in these situations the UPSs are rarely operating above a 50% loading.
Smaller footprint, more space New units are often a lot smaller due to the transformer-based technology inside the product. The units are IGBT rectified (insulated gate bipolar tran- sistor), which ensures high efficiency for fast switching between units. New units can free up valuable space in a computer or server room and can make co-location applications much more profitable as there is more rack space to sell. Carbon footprints are also minimised by installing and utilising energy efficient power.
Increased system resilience As with any product, the older the equipment, the higher the risk of com- ponent failure. Fan failure and inter- nal control board, or power board failures, are particularly common amongst older units, and age related failures increase with any legacy unit. Mean time between failures (MTBF) increase with newer UPS units, which is a good indication of their increased reliability.
It is advisable that all businesses review their UPS set-ups and refresh any units which are seven years or older, as there is a high chance that they are not meeting energy efficiency levels with older equipment.
Powertecnique
www.powertecnique.com T: 01489 560 700
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SEPTEMBER 2013 UPS & Standby Power
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