Businesses of every type and size are vulnerable to sudden losses of power. During working hours, a power failure not only brings everything to a halt, but it can also cause serious damage to networks and data. Even when offices are closed, scheduled overnight backups can fail. An un interruptible power supply (UPS) is essential.
The Scalability of UPS Systems in the UK
However, as businesses grow and objectives change, a UPS must be able to adapt. Scalability is well understood in broad commercial terms, but in the context of a UPS, it means ensuring you have the flexibility to cope with not just present needs but future demands. An understanding of the essentials of UPS scalability is crucial. Here we will look at three key areas.
Software Scaling
Make sure your UPS system has the capacity to handle an increased load without compromising its efficiency. This means installing a system that has higher specifications than are currently necessary. For example, if at present, your business needs an output of 100kVA (A kVA is 1,000 volt-amps), it would be a mistake to choose a system whose limit is 100. You’re at full stretch from the word go. Any increase in your requirements will be impossible to meet. It’s much more sensible to select a UPS with double this capacity. Initially, you can set your software to operate the UPS at 100 kVA, or 50%, but it can later be easily scaled up to 75% or 100% as your operation grows.
Internal Modularity
Even if you install a more powerful UPS than you initially need, you will eventually reach its limit. A good alternative is one of the various modular UPS systems in the UK market. Externally they don’t look very different from a fixed capacity UPS but the chassis comes with several pre-fitted modules to which you can add as necessary. There will always be a limit to the number of modules the chassis will take, but a system like this means you can limit your initial capital outlay, only paying for the greater capacity when you need it. You can increase or decrease as you require, enabling you to scale in both directions. This also works well if you have limited space to house your UPS.
Hardware Scalability
When you need a substantial increase in capacity, you may want to opt for hardware scalability. You might simply decide to retire your old UPS if it can no longer fulfil its purpose. Alternatively, you may wish to adopt a strategy of full equipment redundancy, in which you have two similar machines running in tandem. Such a system can be designed to be paralleled and synced via a common bus. This enables you to scale either for additional capacity or for redundancy. To illustrate this, we’ll call the two-system configuration A+B. A is the power capacity required by the connected load and B is the number of modules installed in addition to that capacity. The result is a double reliable safeguard of load availability.
