Network Communications News (NCN) April 2017 | Page 35

UPS
as standard, as well as remote
monitoring and diagnosis. But it’s
always best to check those T&Cs.
Never be afraid to question your
maintenance provider – realising
down the line that that your
cover does not include a battery
replacement, for example, can be
both costly and inconvenient.
Agreements are available
either in or out of warranty,
although be aware that the ‘out
of warranty’ costs can rise. Best
practice would be to request a
price from your UPS supplier for a
fixed price maintenance plan.
u se a t h ird pa r ty ma inte na nc e
provi der, ma ke s ure to c h e c k
t hat w h oever ma inta in s y o u r
equ i pment is full y tra ine d .
To give customers access
to fully trained engineers, Riello
UPS runs a Certified Engineer
Programme which clearly lists
fully qualified engineers who
have complete access to spare
parts. To achieve this status,
engineers must successfully
complete thorough training on the
commissioning, maintenance and
servicing of Riello UPS products
with regular reassessment.
Three: Get the cover you need
When agreeing a maintenance
plan, make sure you know what
it includes. Most maintenance
plans cover regular preventative
engineer visits, firmware updates
and fully comprehensive cover
Looking for
extra peace of mind?
Riello Connect is a remote
monitoring ser vice designed
to increase resilience and
downtime of your mission
critical equipment. Trained
Riello UPS technicians
continually monitor your
UPS and battery systems,
spotting problems before
they result in a loss load.
In the event of an alarm, an
SMS or email notification
will be sent to your first
response contact and our
technician will investigate
the problem.
Four: Timing is everything…
UPS maintenance plans are
designed to provide more
comprehensive cover than a
warranty and a guaranteed
emergency response time; defined
in either working or clock hours.
With Riello UPS for example you can
choose between silver (12 working
hours), gold (eight working hours)
or platinum (same day, four clock
hours) maintenance plans. These
are guaranteed response times and
not simply best endeavours.
You should also look at
guaranteed ‘fix times’ in your
contract – it’s all very well for
an engineer to respond within a
stated time eg. four hours but it
may not be fixed for another week.
At Riello UPS, we’re upgrading our
platinum contracts to include a
guaranteed four-hour response
and eight-hour fix.
Having these measures
in place means you’ll negate
the cost and inconvenience of
unplanned downtime, and enjoy
the peace of mind that comes
from emergency call out, free
on site repair or swap out and
planned battery replacements.
Get your UPS plan in place
Did you know that in a data
centre, two thirds of downtime
events are preventable, with
insufficient maintenance being
one of the major causes? With
this – and the fact that your UPS
will at some point in its working
life require component or parts
replacement due to wear and tear
– in mind, it’s safe to say your
best line of defence is to have a
comprehensive maintenance plan
in place. This will not only give
Did you know? Three smart ways
you can maximise your UPS
Using UPS as a frequency conver ter
The UPS can also be deployed as a frequency
converter allowing conversion between 50Hz
and 60Hz. The input of the UPS will accept
anything from 48Hz-52Hz and the output can
be selected to either 50Hz or 60Hz. If you
combine an output of the UPS with a step-down
transformer, you can easily simulate American
electrical supply conditions, which is ideal for
testing equipment that may be used in export
applications or requirements. As with using the
UPS as a power conditioner, you can utilise this
feature with or without batteries.
On the output side, the transformer must be
matched to the rating of the UPS. On the input
side, the transformer needs to be oversized to
cater for input power factors, battery charging
and operating losses. When using the UPS as a
frequency converter, the static bypass facility
is inhibited.
Using UPS as a voltage optimiser
The UPS is a clever device which also works
to constantly regulate the electricity supply
to get precisely the voltage required. It works
to reduce the mains power supply of incoming
voltage so that it matches the electrical voltage
level needed by equipment on site.
The output tolerance is normally 230V but
using the UPS, it is possible to set the voltage
to a specified amount, for example, 215V, 218V.
Optimising the voltage for the data centre
means you will be maximising efficiencies.
Using UPS to store energy
Traditionally, the UPS has only been used
on critical loads within the data centre with
other services such as air handling relying on
a generator for emergency power. But there
is now the possibility to use Lithium ion (Li-
ion) batteries with the UPS. Li-ion batteries
have a much greater power density, allowing
longer autonomies and a faster rate of recharge
without sacrificing valuable space. It can
effectively act as an energy accumulator which
can be used in power outages or to feed power
back to the National Grid on demand.
Combine with renewable energy
technologies, such as wind and solar power, and
you can have a very green power solution.
you the peace of mind of having
access to technical expertise,
but essentially will save you
money by ensuring you maximise
the lifespan of your technology.
Having a solid maintenance plan
in place is key to raising levels of
uptime and will also give your UPS
a longer lease of life.
April 2017 | 35