Efficiency economy & emissions

Q Please can you provide some background on UPS Ltd. – how

long it’s been going, its main areas of business, the Kohler
influence etc.
A The business is based in Hampshire and was founded in 1997 to provide a wide array of UPS services. Today, we have established ourselves as the UK’s leading supplier of enterprise level standby power solutions, with an enviable list of FTSE 100 clients.
Bringing UPS Ltd. into Kohler’s Power Group was the perfect development for both businesses. The acquisition helped Kohler towards its goal of becoming a full ‘systems’ supplier in the worldwide power generation market, leveraging our incredible maintenance and service reputation, whilst also providing UPS Ltd. with the resources, investment and opportunities for global expansion we were looking for. The relationship has now been in place for over five years and has only brought positives to both businesses.

Q Who are the key personnel involved with the company?
A The company operates a very flat management structure so we have a small but incredibly experienced team, each responsible for a different aspect of the business. At the top of that tree is David Renton, who arrived as Global MD from Chloride UPS, via Global Switch. He brought a totally new perspective to the business and is responsible for driving our continued growth. Mike Elms has been with the business since the start and is also highly experienced. He is responsible for hardware sales across the business. Service sales, which are a hugely important part of our operation, are managed by Graham Fullick, with John Bladen responsible for field service.
Q What are the key company milestones to date?
A Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd. (UPS Ltd.) was established by its five founder members in 1997, before launching our first 3-phase transformerless UPS in 1999. The next major product development came when we were the first UK supplier to launch a fully modular UPS product in 2001. In 2005 the business underwent a MBO before being sold to Kohler in 2008.
Q In general terms, how does UPS Ltd. differentiate itself in the
fairly crowded data centre power and cooling market?
A We are fortunate that our research and development team is arguably the best in the industry. We may be smaller than some of competitors but we are still able to boast the most advanced range of products on the market, with class leading efficiency, the lowest total cost of ownership and smallest carbon footprint. Basically, we differentiate ourselves through the areas which clients actually care about; efficiency, TCO and carbon emissions.
The other area where we are able to demonstrate a real difference is through our service offering. We have over 6500 UPS systems under contract and we’re the only supplier able to offer 24/7/365 service coverage, with guaranteed response times of less than six hours, anywhere in the UK.
Q When choosing a UPS, what are the main issues to consider?
A First and foremost, it is extremely important to know the required system size before you even consider which UPS system is best for your application. There are various UPS sizing guides available that can help you plan and cost your installation but when it comes down to it, nothing can beat experience, which you can only get from a detailed survey. We offer site surveys free of charge for precisely this reason, enabling you to closely match your installation requirement by selecting UPS frame size, UPS module size and number of modules based on a real understanding of the customer’s needs. The installation requirement itself depends on a number of factors, including the maximum possible load, the maximum likely load, the power factor, as well as the level of redundancy and battery backup time autonomy required.
Q In more detail, how does one go about establishing the
maximum possible and likely load?
A The first port of call is to check the data plate, manual or specifications for each machine intended for connection to the UPS.
If it states the power consumption in VA or kVA (unlikely but possible) you can add this to the total kVA consumption tally. If it states the consumption in Watts (or KW) and the power factor, you can find the VA or kVA equivalent by dividing Watts by the power factor. For example a 400W desktop workstation with a power factor of 0.8 would draw 400/0.8 = 500VA.
If the power factor is not stated, then assume a value of 0.8 for rough estimation purposes. Note that this approach is not accurate enough for any formal specification because in reality the power factor can be anything from below 0.7 to unity, and there is also a question of ‘lagging’ vs ‘leading’ power factors.
Desktop workstations and many other machines typically present a lagging power factor, while blade servers, which are increasingly common in large scale computing environments, present a leading power factor.
If the power consumption is not stated in Watts or VA, then check for the current consumption in amps (A). Multiply Amps by Input Volts to obtain the power consumption in VA. For example if a machine has a stated current consumption of 1.5A at 230V then this equates to a power consumption of 230 x 1.5 = 345VA. If the machine has a 3-phase input then this equates to a power consumption of 400 x 1.5 x √3 = 1040VA.
Q What is the ‘power factor’ and why is this important?
A Power factor is a ratio defining the relationship between useable power in Watts and total supplied power in VA (Volt Amperes) and has important implications for the specification of UPS run time and battery autonomy. The power factor imposed by a load on a UPS system can be either lagging or leading. Traditional data centre loads have been lagging, but blade servers, which impose a leading power factor, are now highly popular because of their dense and flexible processing power. The closer the power factor is to unity, the greater is the power efficiency of the UPS operation.
Q How do you determine the level of redundancy required?
A This is largely determined by the client’s appetite for risk. Redundancy is there to provide further protection, should the UPS suffer a failure. Historically redundancy was determined by the size of your load, with a 500 kVA loading requiring another 500 kVA UPS for redundancy. One of several downsides to this type of system is the fact that you are never operating at more than 50 per cent of total load, which results in poor efficiency. This changed dramatically with the introduction of modular UPS, which meant you could support your load with a number of smaller modules within a single UPS.

For example, your 500 kVA load can now be supported by five 100 kVA modules, instead of a single 500 kVA system. With this type of deployment, to achieve redundancy all you need to do is add another 100 kVA module above your load requirements. This has hugely positive implications on efficiency as you can now run the UPS above 80 per cent of load, which is firmly in the UPS’s preferred operating window.
Q UPS Ltd. offers single phase and three phase products –
presumably only the three phase ones are suitable for the
data centre?
A Once you get above 100 kVA you need three phase products so it would be very unusual for a data centre to look at single phase products, unless they were just looking to use the UPS to run a smaller aspect of the system, such as emergency lighting.
Q You also offer emergency lighting solutions – can you tell us a
little bit more about them?
A Our PowerWAVE emergency lighting range (the PowerWAVE EL) is designed to deliver complete emergency lighting protection for a wide range of applications and offers very low maintenance and running costs.
The entire range boasts true double conversion and PWM technology, is capable of 120% continuous overload and has optional parallel modes. UPS Ltd.’s intelligent battery monitoring also helps maximise service life and a galvanic isolation transformer is included as standard.
Q What are the main characteristics/benefits of your generator
products?
A As part of the Kohler Corporation’s Power Group we are able to leverage Kohler’s technical leadership in the global generator industry to provide a comprehensive range of diesel standby generators that deliver maximum power, performance, flexibility and fuel efficiency.
Selecting the right generator is very much based on your business requirement, with different characteristics and benefits for each model.
The PowerWAVE T Series, for example, is ideal for small-power applications, and supplies dependable power for single and three-phase applications from 5 to 44 kVA. The PowerWAVE J Series is driven by a John Deere engine and provides dependable power for three-phase applications from 22 to 440 kVA, again in either ‘open’ or ‘weather-proof’ acoustic enclosures.
Finally, the largest rated range is the PowerWAVE V Series, which is driven by powerful Volvo engines and is suitable for three-phase applications from 220 to 700kVA. All our generator systems come with a choice of control panel and automatic changeover panels to facilitate optimum control and exceptional power changeover speed when it’s needed most. We also supply a range of bunded fuel tanks to minimize the risk of diesel spillage.
Q What about the UPS’ battery portfolio?
A UPS Batteries are at the heart of all our UPS systems and we have extensive knowledge of UPS battery technology. We partner with only the leading battery manufacturers to supply our clients the most reliable, cost-effective battery solutions available. We source the batteries from trusted European suppliers, namely Yuasa, Fiamm or Panasonic, depending on the system size requirement. By working with multiple suppliers, we believe our clients get the right batteries for their specific needs, rather being forced to use the UPS manufacturer’s supplier of choice or whichever it has the best deal with.
Q Modularity seems to be increasingly important in the data centre
space right now. Presumably this applies to power and cooling
as much as other data centre infrastructure?
A Modularity is hugely important in the UPS industry. As I mentioned before, modular UPS provided big gains in capital and operating expenditure because you are not buying or running unrequired capacity within the system. Historically, if your load grew from 500 kVA to 550 kVA, you might need to purchase another 500 kVA system if you thought more growth was expected. That seems crazy today because you are planning for something that might not happen. With a modular UPS, your 50 kVA increase could be serviced by a single 50 or 100 kVA module, therefore only adding what you actually need, with nothing wasted and your redundancy not impacted.
Q Similarly, scalability is growing in importance – something that
applies to your market?
A When you’re talking about the benefits of scalability, they really fall into the same area as modularity. A modular system allows scalability through the introduction of additional UPS modules in line with business requirements. It is all about having a system that is sized for your actual load today, not what you hope your load will be in five years time.
Q Maintenance/service agreements must be a major consideration
when specifying data centre power and cooling?
Absolutely. A well maintained power protection system will ensure the integrity and availability of power to critical installations, 24 hours a day, week after week, year after year, without fail.
Service is a key part of our business and we have built a national service operation precisely because we understand how important it is to our customers. Downtime for a data centre is simply not an option so they want to know they are receiving the best possible cover. Our comprehensive service offering ensures the UPS, generator, batteries and other complimentary products are expertly maintained on a regular basis and are always ready and able to support the critical business load. What’s more, in the unlikely event of a system failure, data centre operators want to know that they will be get the attention and rapid resolution they need and that is precisely what our service offering provides.

Q What about monitoring of the power and cooling plant?
A Again, both very important. We have developed our PowerREPORTER product for precisely this application. PowerREPORTER is a remote monitoring service specifically designed to ensure business’ critical load is protected by dedicated, trained personnel, even when a facility is unmanned. PowerREPORTER communicates constantly with the UPS system in order to automatically detect any error or alarm messages.

In the event of an incident being detected, the system automatically connects with our service centre, transmitting a status message and providing any available details relating to the fault, as well as a device identification string. Our service centre personnel are then able to liaise with our field service team, who can interrogate and manage
the UPS, perform all necessary remote diagnostics before reaching the facility within the contracted service agreement timeframe.
We also offer a battery monitoring service named PowerNSURE, which is an Ethernet-network integrated battery monitoring and management system. It is able to control the individual charging voltages for each battery, guaranteeing the availability of the battery at all times. It uses web-management technology to check the internal resistance, temperature and voltage of every single battery sequentially. Through the equalisation process, the system corrects the charging voltage operating range to prevent gassing, dry-out and thermal runaway.
Q There’s much talk about the issue of (high) energy consumption
when it comes to data centres. Are you a glass half empty or
half full person when it comes to the future for data centre
power supplies?
A Definitely a glass half full. We have made big step changes in efficiency and we will continue to make inroads in this area in the years to come. UPS systems, for example, have dramatically increased their efficiency credentials through the introduction of modular systems and more recently ECO mode, which produces efficiency levels in excess of 99 per cent.
Looking to the future of the UPS, it is hard to see where the next
big change will come from but reducing the physical footprint of
UPS systems will further enhance power density which directly impacts a facility’s overall efficiency levels and that is something
we are really pushing for with our next round of product developments.

Outside the UPS market, there are a number of interesting areas where data centres should see efficiency gains. Converged infrastructure is potentially one, where servers, storage, networking and software resources are integrated into a solution that can be managed as a single architecture. Data centre consolidation is another but there are countless other areas being worked on currently, any number of which could have a significant impact on overall efficiency.
Q How do you see the power and cooling industry being able
to make further progress when it comes to helping the data
centre industry achieve greater and greater power efficiency?
A ECO mode has the potential to drive efficiency ratings upwards but it is not without its downsides and still hasn’t be adopted by many data centre operators. This is largely because ECO mode is effectively running the UPS offline so if it called upon to support the critical load, there is 10 millisecond lag before it kicks into operation. This lag will become less important as the latest server equipment is designed to cope with these conditions.
Q Product/technology-wise, what can we expect from UPS in
the next year or so?
A That is a difficult one as our R&D programme is fiercely secretive! I will say that we are now looking to the next step change and that is unlikely to reach the market in the next twelve months.