by Viktor Vogman, Power Conversion Consulting, Olympia, Wash., How2Power Today, Nov 15 2019
Focus:
For data centers where downtime is unacceptable, standby UPSs are usually insufficient
and use of double conversion (online) UPSs is required. But recently the standby UPS
has expanded its usefulness in the form of the dc UPS, which integrates battery backup
modules
into the server power subsystems. This articles explains how speeding up the standby
UPS wake-up process creates an opportunity for significant efficiency improvements by
taking advantage of both online and offline UPSs. Implementation aspects and benefits
of such backup power architectures are discussed. Article begins by explaining the
processes that occur during the hold-up time (HUT), when the UPS is switching to
battery power, derives an expression for the bulk capacitor voltage as a function of
HUT, and discusses how shortening HUT can improve power supply efficiency. It then
discusses techniques which can be applied to shorten HUT including disabling soft
start of the BBUs and speeding up ac fault detection for the ac-dc power supply.
Example calculations demonstrate the potential improvement in dc UPS efficiency
obtainable when accelerated wakeup is employed. Finally, some additional ideas are
presented for using fast ac and dc fault signals to speed wakeup and improve
efficiency in dc UPS architectures.
What you’ll learn:
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