cloud management
geographical location. However,
one challenge we do see where UPS
systems are monitored remotely, is
the shift to closed protocol systems
that lock customers in to expensive
ongoing monitoring contracts
which can be costly and don’t
always offer the best customer
service. We work using an open
protocol system and can take over
the monitoring of any UPS system
and the customer is not tied-in to
us should they ever choose to use a
different service provider.
At the other end of the scale, a
growing number of companies are
seen advertising as UPS suppliers
and maintainers, but are actually
only resellers with no in-house
service capability, again potentially
leaving customers vulnerable as
they are not offering robust enough
service contracts.
Some good advice
The other challenge faced by
many organisations is that some
less scrupulous service providers
are taking advantage of clients
by not providing best advice. This
is particularly so, when there
is a sales division and a service
department essentially competing
with each other to extract budget
from the client.
The sales team want to hit their
targets so want to sell the latest
kit, they may therefore advise
replacement when a UPS can be
repaired economically. On the
other hand, the service department
want legacy equipment to continue
for as long as possible as this
requires more servicing and parts
replacement and adds to their
bottom line, even if the repairs are
uneconomical for the customer.
At MPower we work in a
different way. We only aim to
provide best advice and a UPS
solution designed to eliminate risks
that may result in the downtime
of business-critical applications.
We don’t tie companies in to our
systems or contracts. Our values
may seem old fashioned but our
goal is to do the best job possible
for a reasonable price.
Availability, reliability
and resilience
One key area customers do need
to consider when purchasing a
UPS system is availability. This
relates not just to the reliability
of the equipment itself, which
is clearly of great importance,
but also its resilience to faults
or events, both internal to the
equipment and external. For
example, a UPS system can be
extremely reliable, but when a
fault eventually does occur, then
the system fails completely and
loses load power or transfers to
bypass, leaving the critical load
vulnerable on raw mains.
One way this can be avoided
is through modular UPS systems.
We anticipate flexible, modular
systems will increasingly replace
traditional stand alone and
parallel systems with the drive for
high availability, fast repair and
commonality of parts, as well as
reduced system footprint.
The idea when it comes to
modular systems is that there is a
single frame, containing a number
(N) of power modules, all running
together and sharing the load
‘Availability
relates not
just to the
reliability
of the
equipment
itself, but
also its
resilience
to faults or
events.’
equally between them all. Some
systems also have modular battery
packs providing the DC backup to
all the power modules.
The big advantage of this
format is that you can have more
modules than actually needed in
order to power the load. Therefore,
if one module fails, the load is
simply shared out amongst the
remaining modules. Similarly, one
module can be shut down and
isolated for maintenance whilst the
load continues to be supported by
the remaining modules.
Maintenance is made easier. A
module can easily be removed from
the UPS frame for maintenance,
while leaving the remainder to
support the load. There is no
requirement to transfer the system
to external bypass, i.e. raw mains,
for routine maintenance. This
obviously eliminates the risk to the
critical load by being on mains, but
also eliminates the risk of human
error whilst carrying out the
switching procedure between UPS
and external bypass.
UPS systems are complicated
and need to be tailored according
to individual requirements. It is
essential to select a trusted service
provider who will offer best advice,
provide the very best solution for
the task, and ensure the system
is maintained properly in a cost
effective and efficient way.
September 2017 | 41