What is a (UPS) Uninterrupted Power Supply?

There are various UPS Systems available in the market, from Various leading manufacturers including, Riello UPS, Eaton Powerware, MGE OPS and APC, that can get you out of a crisis by supplying you with an uninterrupted power supply.

Uninterruptible power supplies or UPS, is a power back up system that supplies power to connected equipment when there is a power failure or a fluctuation in the utility power. Unlike other emergency systems that take a few minutes to begin operating, uninterruptible power supplies give immediate support to the equipment. Although it gives instant back up, the uninterrupted power supply is only temporary, giving you just about enough time to save your work and switch off the supported device.

Uninterruptible power supplies are used for Home Office, Small Work Groups, Medical and Data Centre applications.

To maintain an uninterrupted power supply, you need to keep the back up source fully charged. This can be done by a back up battery or an AC-DC charger or inverter.

There are three types of UPS systems available, the Stand By UPS, the Line Interactive UPS and Online UPS.

A Stand By Uninterruptible Power Supply is the most widely used power back up system for your PC as it is also the cheapest of the three. It remains on a stand by mode and operates only when there is a power failure. Its job is to transfer the load onto a battery or inverter during a power crisis and this can hold up to 16 minutes.

The Line Interactive UPS is similar to the Stand By UPS, with the only difference that it has an added tap adaptable transformer, which is a special device that can regulate the AC output voltage of the transformer. This kind of an uninterruptible power supply system has the ability to withstand power disruptions and make use of the least battery resources. It is the most commonly produced model in the 0.5-5 KVA category used today.

An Online Uninterruptible Power Supply is best used for equipments that are susceptible to power fluctuations. These are expensive and generally used for larger environments although smaller capacity variants are now available for common use too. It is known to present uninterrupted power supply, if not all, at least a fraction of it so that the equipment remains functioning.

For further information of UPS, and available options to you, please contact our sales team on 01939 235 862