Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

The power surge – no wants to experience it, yet nearly everyone understands the destructive power it can have. When your company relies on consistent power protection to ensure operations are on track, the power surge can quickly render your processes and equipment useless. Fortunately, Uninterruptible Power Supplies can provide that protection and keep your business on track.

A recent MinuteMan blog highlighted the importance on power protection. While the blog took a closer look at the differences between line interactive versus online UPSs, the important point is the availability of the UPS to ensure a business can stay online at all times. The higher level of protection is available in the online UPS, but also has a higher cost. The differences from there include voltage regulation, wave output and double conversion inversion.

Where line interactive is the UPS of choice, there is a greater need for the automatic voltage regulator (AVR) as it helps in areas where power is unreliable. The AVR ensures power protection as it allows power to run through the UPS with voltage indefinitely. This differs from the battery option where power will only last for a set amount of time and could put you in a problem situation if the power runs out before your backup plan kicks in.

The double-conversion inversion approach also avoids the battery to prevent downtime. Conversion is actually the only option available for UPSs to deliver power protection. A relatively simple concept, the AC current will run a long distance, but struggles with hitting the quality of the DC power. DC power produces the quality, but only over short distances, such as those found in the UPS. With every online UPS, the current enters as AC and is then converted into DC and then exits again as AC to provide the ultimate in high quality power protection.

For any business, an interruption to the power supply can mean the interruption to business. It’s about more than just worrying about a power surge; it’s about business continuity no matter what obstacles may appear in the given path. This is especially true in a data-driven environment where the power to the data center supports the primary efforts of the business. UPSs ensure the data isn’t lost, regardless of what happens with the power.