UPS Battery Modules vs Power Modules
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January 2021
Happy New Year Reader,
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and was able to stay healthy.
This month we are discussing the difference between a UPS size and battery backup, specifically in modular systems. This is the first in a series on batteries.
As always, your feedback is welcome and encouraged.
Thanks again for your support.
Rob
Catch up on past newsletters here and if you are not currently a subscriber, you can join here.
UPS Size vs. Battery Backup Time
A common misunderstanding of a modular system is what adding power modules and batteries will do. In several of these systems, the inverter and rectifier are contained in modules. Each module is a certain size depending on the type of system. Adding a power module will increase the capacity of the UPS system. The APC ISX 100, a 100kW system, uses up to ten 10kW modules. For each module added to the system, you increase its capacity by 10kW.
This differs from batteries, which are also built-in modules. Increasing battery modules increases the backup time, not UPS system capacity.
As an example, a customer purchases a 50kW modular UPS system with fifteen minutes of battery backup time. The system will be installed with five 10kW power modules and eight battery module strings. The following year, the customer’s load is increasing and they want to up-size their UPS system to an 80kW. They simply purchase three more power modules and have them installed. This requires no downtime or upgrade in the electrical infrastructure, which would have been built for the 100kW system. However, if battery modules are not increased with the increase in power modules, the battery run time will decrease.
On the other side of the coin: the customer has a 50kW solution with five battery modules and fifteen minutes of battery backup, but they want to increase the battery runtime to twenty-five minutes. Purchasing several more battery modules will increase the battery runtime, but it will not increase the total capacity of the UPS system; it would still be a 50kW UPS.
Power and battery modules are only related in that if you increase power modules and add more load to your system, you will decrease battery backup time. Conversely, if you add battery modules you will increase backup time but not the load capacity of the UPS system.
This is a critical concept that I often see misunderstood but one that is key to understanding the basic principles of growing your UPS system to meet your increasing power needs.
If you want to discuss this farther feel free to contact me.
Rob
Coming Next Month
Next month we will continue our series on batteries. We will explain and define common terms used in the industry.
Book Update
This month is the official launch of my new book “UPS Handbook, A layman’s guide to Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems.” Later this week I will send an email with details to the upcoming sale.
You can check it out here.
Rob's Writing
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