integratesthetraditionalbackup
components intoasinglesystem. When
utilitypower is lost, thesystemretrieves
kineticenergyfrom its inductioncoupling
tosupportthecritical loaduntil thediesel
enginetakesover.
Comparedtostaticsystems, the life
expectancyofaDRUPSsystem isnearly
30years. Thismeanssignificanttimeand
costsavings—puttingvaluabledollars
back intotheannualbudget. Usersalso
neednotworryaboutenvironmental
impactsoftoxicbatterychemicalsupon
disposal.
Size isyetanotherconsiderationwhen
turningtoDRUPS. Asnotedabove,
battery-basedsystemstranslate intoa
greatdealofwasted,non-revenue
generatingfloorspace. Typicallyhoused
inaseparate location,aDRUPStypically
occupies50percent lessspacethana
static,battery-basedsystem. Addingto
thecosts,battery-basedenvironments
mustbepreciselycooled—wastingmore
energy. Asthetemperatureoftheroom
doesn’t impactrotaryUPS, there’sno
additionalcostforcooling.
Inaddition, thethreatofdowntime is
probablythenumberoneconcernfor
mostdatacentermanagers. It’s
estimatedthatthecostof ITfailure
averagesnearly$8,000perminute—a41
percent increaseover2010. Withtypical
incident lengthestimatedat86minutes,
thismeanscompanieswastealmost
$700,000foreachoutage.
Thenthere’sthe issueofpowerquality.
StaticUPSsystemstendtoproducesome
levelsofdistortionuponoutputvoltage.
Thesetypesofdistortionarethemost
commoncausesofequipment
malfunctionorpoweroverload. ADRUPS
system iswellknowntoproduceclean
voltage—meaningmorereliable
equipment.
Finally, there’scertainlyacasetobemade
forenergyefficiency. ThetypicalDRUPS
unit is2percentmoreefficientatany
given loadthanastaticUPS. Whilethis
doesnotseem likemuch,giventhe24
hournatureofmissioncritical
applications,andat11.5centsperkilowatt
hour, thiswill result in literallymillionsof
dollars insavingsoverthe lifecycleofthe
gear.
THENEXTSTEP
Costefficiencyofdatacenters isoneof
thebiggestchallengesforbusinesses
today. It’sadata-drivenworld,andfew
companiescanaffordtobewithouta
reliable IT infrastructure. Thismakes
powerefficiencyandreliabilityapriority—
andcompaniesmust look longandhard
atthepowersourcesfeedingtheir
infrastructures. WhilestaticUPS isoften
themost logicalchoice, it’snotalwaysthe
best. Now’sthetimetotakea lookat
rotary-basedUPS—includingthose
backedbydiesel.
Whenyoudigdeeper,DRUPScould
meanthedifferencebetweenefficiency
andsquanderedresources.
JoePepas isNorthAmericaPresident forHitecPowerProtection, Inc.He canbe reachedat
