Safetell Ltd is a designer, manufacturer, installer and service provider for a wide range of security products for corporate clients nationwide. We provide very specialist security products that allow ...

What is your definition of a Modular UPS? A question that, surprisingly, has several answers!  We have all become aquainted with those lovely ‘buzz’ words that are associated with modular systems, words like: flexibilty, availability, scalability, right-sizing, pay-as-you-grow and hot-swap.. etc..etc.  However, the term modular itself can mean different things to different people so it is important to check the nature of what is being described as a ‘modular system’ carefully when buying a UPS solution to ensure the essential power of your datacentre is protected at all times. 

A single standalone UPS unit that protects a critical load is known as an N system configuration. This is all very well but lacks any resilience in the event that the UPS unit develops a fault or is offline for preventative maintenance. Simply paralleling a second standalone UPS unit of the same rating gives us that resilience and is known as an N+1 configuration.  Of course, you can parallel several standalone units together of an individual smaller rating to give the same philospohy, for example if we took this to the extreme we could have 101 x 1KVA UPS units in parallel which would still offer 100KVA N+1 configuration. Obviously this wouldn’t be practical but you get the picture.   By using this philosophy it could be described – at the most simple level – as a modular UPS system.   However, there does need to be the associated electrical infrastructure –switchgear etc – to be able to add more standalone units.  

Another definition of modular is a standalone UPS designed and manufactured in a modular format.  The main component parts of rectifier, inverter and static switch are modular. This means if there is a problem with say the recitifier it can be swapped easily.  However, if one componentt does fail the whole UPS functionality goes down with it.  It may be a modular system but its level of availability will not be reliable.

A better solution is what we term:  a true modular UPS.  This is where several individual UPS modules are contained within a frame.  All the individual modules are UPS’s in their own right, all containing a recifier, inverter and static switch and all operating online in parallel with each other. For example five 60kW UPS modules may typically be contained within a single frame offering a resilient configuration of 240KWs N+1.  If required, it takes moments (around 30 seconds) to ‘hot-swap’ a module while the rest of the modules continue to protect the critIcal load. At no point does the system need to be transferred to maintenance bypass and hence on raw mains.

Some other modular systems include the rectifier and inverter within their modules but the static switch is centralised and separate.  This offers a potential single point of failure.   It may only take a few moments to replace a separate static switch, but, depending on location, getting to the site to replace it may take a maintenance engineer several hours.  During that time the system cannot transfer to static bypass.   With a true modular system, where the static switch is included in each module, the rest of the modules in the UPS frame continue to protect the load until it can be replaced.  This increases the level of availablity dramatically.

Naturally, often cost comes into the decision making process when purchasing a UPS.  However, the purpose of a UPS system must be to protect essential power with the highest level of availability.   There must be no potential single points of failure.  Therefore, it is important to check the configuration and the definition of a modular system carefully before purchasing.

At CENTIEL our design team has been working with data centres for many years at the forefront of technological development. We are the trusted advisors to some of the world’s leading institutions in this field.  For this reason, we have developed our pioneering 4th generation true modular UPS system CumulusPower which offers offer industry-leading availability of 99.9999999% (nine, nines), with low total cost of ownership (TCO) through its Maximum Efficiency Management (MEM) and low losses of energy.  

This article was featured in DCM Magazine December 2018

Saft and Socomec deliver state-of-the-art backup power system for Total’s supercomputer environment

       Innovative hot-swappable uninterruptible power supply (UPS) integrates high-performance Saft lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries

·       Electronic management and high reliability enable Total to protect the operations of its High Performance Computer (HPC) data center

Saft introduces Flex’ion as its latest generation lithium-ion (Li-ion) product range designed for high power, short duration UPS (uninterruptible power supply) applications in mission critical facilities, such as data centers.

Flex’ion battery systems offer many advantages compared to conventional lead-acid products. These include a reduced footprint with one third of the volume and one sixth of the weight, 20 years calendar life, 10 times more cycle life and maintenance-free cells.

Moreover Flex’ion delivers a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), an industry-leading power and energy density, and close to 100% charge-discharge efficiency that reduces power consumption. Its cutting-edge design includes an intuitive human-machine-interface (HMI) and a front panel visual indication of the battery’s condition.

Its modular design provides maximum system flexibility to adjust power, operating voltage and backup time.

Nick Finney, Saft’s Product Manager said: “Flex’ion’s product development started by choosing the right chemistry answering customers’ needs – Super Lithium Iron Phosphate (SLFPTM) cells offer superior performance over conventional technologies, while maintaining the highest levels of safety, reliability and availability. This patented chemistry invented by Saft R&D has a flat discharge curve, which is an optimum fit for UPS systems that supply constant power.”

 

 

 A good reason for any data centre professional to visit Daxten at DCW 2018 is to experience, how easy and fast critical racks can be powered by the latest generation of the Starline track busbar. The design of the Starline busbar system, allows for the tool free insertion of the plug-in unit into the busbar, simply by rotating the tap off by 90 degrees locks it into position – within seconds a new branch circuit to a rack is completed. The latest T5 product family,includes 250A, 400A, 800A and 1200A These will be presented on the Daxten stand D540.

With over £70m in live construction, Structure Tone Mission Critical is central London’s largest data centre main contractor, specialising in design and build solutions on very complex and challenging sites. 

AisleLok Sliding Doors, form Upsite Technologies provide a tool-less, self-install solution for Cold & Hot Aisle Containment applications. See them at Data Centre World.

The underground telecom vaults in New York City, USA, were frequently flooded, especially after hurricane Sandy. A major Tier 1 carrier turned to Roxtec to prevent future flooding and the associated liabilities.

The concrete walls in the vaults are designed for up to 20 matrixes of penetrations for coax cables and fiber bundles. But the foam and other sealing materials that were used for the cable penetrations were not a good solution for the uneven surfaces of the water saturated walls and could not withstand the high pressure. It was necessary to find a tight and area efficient solution to seal around thousands of cables.

The innovative cable and pipe seal manufacturer Roxtec is exhibiting at Data Centre World again this year at ExCeL London on March 21 and 22.

The company SevenComp was founded in 2006. Specializes in comprehensive delivery of ICT solutions for both small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations with branches. The aim of the company is the high quality of the offered services. SevenComp tries to match an offer under the specific expectations of its customers. 

The totally redesigned AHU systems are available in eleven sizes from 30 kW to 520 kW

The SMISSLINE TP finger-safe plug-in socket system ensures that load-free devices and components can be snapped on and off under voltage without the need for additional personal protection equipment to guard against electrical hazards.

Reflex Winkelmann optimises design of vacuum spray tube degasification system 

 

Smoother, clearer and more efficient: The constant inspection of the services provided with the Servitec vacuum spray-tube degassing system has resulted in optimisation of the structure of the established systems. The detailed configuration of the system has been improved – for example, individual system components will be easier to access in the future. Start-up and maintenance will also be easier. Within the range, the Servitec 35, Servitec 60, Servitec 75 and Servitec 95 can be equipped directly with an optimal conductibility sensor on the feed-in section. The sensor is directly compatible with the software, enabling capacity monitoring of ion exchangers (feed-in). The motto is easy-to-install. And the fact is: The spray-tube has been stabilised again due to the modified design, enabling a greater load. With this, Reflex Winkelmann is emphasising its claim of making Servitec systems available for a wide range of purposes in industrial, residential and commercial buildings.