Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Uninterruptible power supply
Summary
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or uninterruptible power source is a type of continual power system that provides automated backup electric power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails. A UPS differs from a traditional auxiliary/emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions by switching to energy stored in battery packs, supercapacitors or flywheels. The on-battery run-times of most UPSs are relatively short (only a few minutes) but sufficient to "buy time" for initiating a standby power source or properly shutting down the protected equipment. Almost all UPSs also contain integrated surge protection to shield the output appliances from voltage spikes.
A UPS is typically used to protect hardware such as computers, data centers, telecommunication equipment or other electrical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption or data loss. UPS units range in size from ones designed to protect a single computer without a video monitor (around 200 volt-ampere rating) to large units powering entire data centers or buildings. The world's largest UPS, the 46-megawatt Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), in Fairbanks, Alaska, powers the entire city and nearby rural communities during outages.
The primary role of any UPS is to provide short-term power when the input power source fails. However, most UPS units are also capable in varying degrees of correcting common utility power problems:
Voltage spike or sustained overvoltage
Momentary or sustained reduction in input voltage
Voltage sag
Noise, defined as a high frequency transient or oscillation, usually injected into the line by nearby equipment
Instability of the mains frequency
Harmonic distortion, defined as a departure from the ideal sinusoidal waveform expected on the line
Some manufacturers of UPS units categorize their products in accordance with the number of power-related problems they address.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.