COVER STORY


methods and testing schedules. While monthly testing to the depths seen at healthcare facilities is not required, smaller facilities should still develop a proper test schedule for their equipment.


BACK UP YOUR BACKUP An important part of preventative


maintenance of any UPS & generator system is load bank testing. At PPSPower we recommend that your back-up generator and UPS units, are tested on load either through a load bank or at the very least against the building load. Running your backup system under load is the only true way to test its capability to operate as specified. There are many components that must see real operating conditions to provide confirmation of their ready-state.


LOAD BANK TESTING If you do not wish to disrupt your


building operations by the short power interruptions associated with a building load test, consider investing in a load bank test.


Our engineers can arrive on your site with the correct sized load bank and connect up to your generator. This allows our engineers to test and exercise your generator(s) to verify overall reliability, and ability to run


at full rated KW output. Typically, a generator is running at a level far less than the unit’s rated output capability. Load banking ensures the engine’s ability to perform and provide the required horsepower when called upon in an emergency. When a load bank is used, the artificial load it provides brings the engine up to an acceptable operating temperature.


Fully loading the standby generator stresses all of its components. It is, therefore, preferable to identify any potential weakness under controlled conditions than to wait until the lights are out.


‘BLACK START’ OR


‘BUILDING’ LOAD TEST Our engineers will carry out a full test of the installed generator(s) and switching systems designed to operate on the occasion of a break in the supply of electricity to the facility. A black start test commences with the opening of the circuit breakers on the incoming mains feeders and concludes with the successful reconnection of the facility to the mains feeders.


The purpose of the black start test is to prove that the emergency electricity supply performs as an integrated system in the restoration and continued delivery of power supplies to critical areas in an orderly manner. It is also used to prove the orderly restoration of supplies once the normal source of power supply has been restored. A black start test must be planned, designed and executed to demonstrate the proper operation of the entire system, rather than to demonstrate the correct operation and/or exercise of just component parts of the system.


“DATACENTRES AND HEALTHCARE FACILITIES


HAVE SOME OF THE BEST AND MOST THOROUGH


PROCEDURES FOR TESTING THEIR EMERGENCY ON-SITE POWER SYSTEMS. “


www.tomorrowsfm.com TOMORROW’S FM | 21


Our engineers will conduct the test with all normal loads connected and operating to replicate, as far as possible, the circumstances that may exist at the time of random failures. Critical items of equipment should not be isolated as the test should be used to gain an understanding of the performance of all equipment and procedures under conditions of power failure and restoration. It is also imperative that loads should be representative of actual operations to demonstrate the capability of generators and ancillary systems such as load staging.


A test is only deemed successful if, under normal operating conditions, the system works as designed, results in power being supplied to the essential areas and continues to operate for at least one hour.


PPSPower provide our clients support 24/7. Our highly skilled service engineers are in operation across the whole of the UK and are on hand 365 days a year.


www.ppspower.com


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