Uninterruptible Power Supplies – Your FAQ’s

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Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) protect sensitive devices from power blackouts and brownouts. They also help them keep going during power swells, spikes, surges and frequency drifts. Their most common cause of failure is their batteries. While these do eventually wear out, they can let you down prematurely if they overheat. Therefore, make sure your UPS is in well-insulated space especially on a hot day,

John J Hanley: Father of UPS

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Installing 500kVA Data Center UPS: Cgxke: P Domain

We don’t know an awful lot about John J Hanley except that he was a prolific inventor of electrical devices. He obtained a patent in 1934 for “maintaining unfailing and uninterruptible power supplies of electrical energy”.

His application describes an apparatus with automatic switching allowing a battery to cut in when an external power supply fails. That same external power supply would charge the battery under normal conditions. He envisaged his invention “maintaining uninterruptedly, and with unfailing certainty necessary electrical energy required to supply alarms and signal systems”.  There were no computers then. His interest was rail passenger safety during power outages.

Does the Flywheel UPS System Predate John J Hanley?

We have seen mentions of earlier rotary designs using flywheels to provide short intervals of backup power. These would have supplied short bursts of kinetic energy when required to run dynamos.

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Sealed Lead Acid Battery © UPS Battery Center.Com

Fast forward to today, when there is healthy competition between flywheels and battery power farms to store energy from wind power and solar. These uninterruptible power supplies are critical to maintaining continuity when the wind drops, or clouds partly obscure the sun. It’s important to run-test a working UPS once a year unless there have been intervening power cuts.

However, it is never a good idea to run a lead-acid battery completely flat because this can shorten its life. We recommend turning off computers when the battery is down to 15% power. It is always best to do so when we have time to do it properly.

Related

What is an Uninterruptible Power Supply Battery

How Flywheel Energy Storage Is a Battery

Preview Image: 1934 Srreamliner on Union Pacific Railroad

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I tripped over a shrinking bank balance and fell into the writing gig unintentionally. This was after I escaped the corporate world and searched in vain for ways to become rich on the internet by doing nothing. Despite the fact that writing is no recipe for wealth, I rather enjoy it. I will not deny I am obsessed with it when I have the time. I live in Margate on the Kwazulu-Natal south coast of South Africa. I work from home where I ponder on the future of the planet, and what lies beyond in the great hereafter. Sometimes I step out of my computer into the silent riverine forests, and empty golden beaches for which the area is renowned. Richard

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