Summary: While we all know that our daily requirements depend largely on energy sources provided by a single utility power, we must also be aware of the fact that this lone supplier may get overloaded and cut off its source for sometime. It is in such a situation that we need an UPS to provide us with an uninterrupted power supply. But how can we tell which one is good for us?
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 double-conversion is utilised by the on-line uninterruptible power supply. This means it takes in the AC input that is available from the main utility source and then converts it into DC power. This is necessary for it to pass through the battery. Once this is done it converts it back to AC power which runs 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. It is analogous to the stand by or off-line UPS except for the fact that it has a flexible electrical transformer that has the ability to increase or decrease the magnetic field and the produced voltage 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. They are available now however, in smaller consumer equipments. These use about 500 watts of power. Areas that use large noise making equipment tend to use these as the location is convenient. Apart from this they may require a back up generator to supply an uninterrupted power supply to these equipments.
This powerful UPS system is more advanced and more expensive than the other two UPS systems due to the fact it has an advanced cooling system that efficiently provides energy sources to your equipment and a powerful AC to DC converter. The on-line UPS works differently than the other UPS systems. The converter moves out of the circuit when there is a power cut and resumes charging when the main power supply is restored; this means it does not need any transmission switches.
You can decide, based on the two designs which uninterruptible power supply suits you the best. Whether it is for your home or office or a large organisation or industry, uninterruptible power supplies will provide you an uninterrupted power supply always.
