Feature: Understanding SANYO DENKI Products from Scratch

Basic Knowledge Regarding

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Tetsuo Suzuki

1. Introduction Without UPS…

The system would stop on a fault. In the worst case, the system would be
damaged and an enormous amount of money and time would be required
UPS is the abbreviation for Uninterruptible Power for its restoration.

Supply, and is a device which supplies power to devices for

Power
a fixed amount of time without stopping even when there outage!
are problems occurring with utility power and other power
sources.
In this present-day highly information-orientated society,
the work tasks of many industries, including manufacturing,
service and medical, operate on networks. For this reason,
network system stoppages have an enormous impact on
society and as such, the importance of UPS to provide these With UPS…
The power stored in the UPS’s battery would be supplied, securing
systems with a stable power supply is increasing. enough time to stop the system safely.
T his report provides basic knowledge such as the
necessity, applications and systems of UPS, which is the Power
outage!
flagship product of the Power Systems Division, including
an introduction of Sanyo Denki’s products, the “SANUPS”
series.

2. Necessity
Fig. 1: Necessity of UPS
Japan’s power situation is extremely stable and there
are virtually no power outages or voltage abnormalities,
however, regardless of the status of power supply and power 3. Applications and Role
transmission, power outages, voltage fluctuations, and the
like can occur due to natural phenomena such as lightning When power failures such as power outages occur,
or snow affecting power cables and the breakdown of power computer devices such as servers and workstations may
generation or power distribution equipment, therefore break down, leading to various problems such as the loss of
it is necessary for users to take appropriate measures or important data and program malfunction.
appropriate measures should be taken to load devices. Moreover, even a momentary voltage drop on factory
In particular, the impact of system stoppages and production lines, can result in system stoppages, defective
malfunctions on systems which utilize computers and products, and in the worst-case scenario, damage to
networks is immeasurable. UPS is essential to avoid this equipment.
kind of power trouble and enable the stable operation of T hese issues can be avoided by installing U PS in
systems. computers, network systems, production lines, and the
Moreover, UPS enables power source management, such like and it is also possible to operate systems with stability
as the starting and stopping of network systems and the and efficiency using the various functions of the UPS. The
building of automated solutions. following are the main applications.

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 Basic Knowledge Regarding Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

図3

3.1 Backup in the case of power outages/

Bypass
momentary voltage drops
By connecting utility power to devices such as computers
AC input Rectifier Inverter Switch AC output
via a UPS, rather than directly, it is possible to supply AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC

stable power without fluctuation even if power outages or

momentary voltage drops occur in utility power. Battery

Fig. 3: Basic structure of UPS

3.2 Power source management
(1) Automatic start-up/shutdown of computers
By combining UPS with power source management 5.
図3 Systems
software, it is possible to properly shutdown computers and 図4

other devices connected to UPS in the event of a power 5.1 UPS systems Bypass
Bypass
outage. This section gives an overview of the main UPS systems.
Rectifier Inverter
Moreover, when the power has been restored, the AC input
⇒ DC
AC Rectifier ⇒ AC
DC Inverter
Switch AC output
AC input Switch AC output
AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC
computers which were automatically stopped when the 5.1.1 Online UPS
power outage occurred can be automatically started up A system of supplying Battery
power by converting AC input
Normally
図3
again. (utility power) to DC and reconverting
Battery
it to stable AC outage
At power by the
(2) Scheduled operation inverter while constantly charging the batteries.
Bypass

Scheduled operation of turning UPS output on and off is Supplies power without momentary power breaks in the
possible once a day. event Rectifier
of a power
AC input outage. Inverter Switch AC output
AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC
(When UPS is off, computers will be automatically shut 図4
図5
down). Battery
Bypass
Figure 2 gives an example of UPS system connection.

AC input Rectifier Inverter Switch AC output

HUB ⇒ DC
AC Rectifier ⇒ AC
DC Inverter
Power connection AC input Switch AC output
AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC

Normally
Battery At power outage
Normally
図4
Battery At power outage

Fig.Bypass
4: Online UPS

Rectifier Inverter
5.1.2 Standby
AC input
UPS
AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC
Switch AC output

Workstation Server PC UPS 図5A system where, normally AC input (utility power) is
output as is to connected devices
Battery and when aNormally
power outage
At power outage
Power connection or abnormal voltage is detected, inverter starts feeding using
Fig. 2: An example of UPS system connection power from theRectifier
batteries. Inverter
AC input Switch AC output
⇒ DC ⇒ AC
In the eventACof a powerDCoutage, a few milliseconds of
momentary break occurs in AC output. Normally
英語版用
4. Basic structure 図5
Battery
Condens
At power outage

英語版用
Times Ten
UPS consists of the following circuits and the battery. In
the event of a power outage or failure occurring in the AC
AC input Rectifier Inverter Switch AC output
input, the UPS continues supplying power from the batteries AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC

to the AC output.
Normally
(1) ‌R ectifier: Circuit which converts AC power to DC Battery At power outage

power
Fig. 5: Standby UPS
(2) Inverter: Circuit which converts DC power to AC power
(3) Bypass: Circuit which directly outputs AC power
(4) ‌Switch: Circuit which switches between inverter output
and bypass output
Figure 3 shows the basic structure of UPS.

SANYO DENKI Technical Report No.40 November 2015 10

 Battery Normally
Battery
At power outage

図4 図7

5.1.3 Parallel processing UPS Bypass

Bypass
While power from AC input (utility power) is supplied,
the bidirectional inverter connected in parallel corrects
AC input Rectifier Inverter Switch AC output AC input Rectifier Inverter Switch AC output
AC ⇒ and
voltage DC ⇒noise.
DC absorbs AC Because this is the online inverter AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC

(parallel) system, it has both high efficiency and high

Normally Double conversion
reliability. Battery At power outage Battery mode
Economy mode
図6 Active filter mode ＋
At power outage

Fig. 7: Hybrid UPS

AC input Switch AC output

図5 Bidirectional
inverter 5.2 Parallel redundant operation system
DC ⇒ AC
Normally one unit operates in isolation, however by
Normally
Battery
At power outage
connecting two of the same units in parallel, it is possible
Rectifier Inverter to continue supplying power from one unit in the unlikely
AC input
AC ⇒ DC Fig. DC
6: ⇒Parallel
AC processing
Switch AC outputUPS
event that an error occurs on the other unit. This is referred
Normally
to as the parallel redundant operation system. There will
5.1.4 Hybrid UPS Battery At power outage
be a greater number of components than if only one UPS
図7This system consists of three modes: double conversion was used in isolation however reliability is notably improved
mode, economy mode, and active filter mode. The UPS
Bypass based on the theory of a parallel system.
automatically selects the power feeding mode to best suit
the power situation and loadInverter
Rectifier conditions. It is possible to shift
AC input Switch AC output UPS
AC ⇒ DC DC ⇒ AC
between the respective modes with no momentary break in
Load
output voltage. Double conversion mode is Double
selected when
conversion
mode
the power situation is poorBattery
and economy mode is selected
Economy mode
Utility power UPS
when the power situation is good. Active filter mode ＋
At power outage

Fig. 8: Parallel redundant operation system

Table 1 gives a comparison of the various UPS systems.

Table 1: Comparison of UPS systems

Switchover Output voltage Main connected

System Efficiency Dimensions Weight Price
time stability devices

Server
Online ◎ ◎ △ ○ ○ ○
Workstation

PC
Standby △ ○ ◎ ◎ ○ ◎ PC periphery
devices

Parallel FA/industrial
◎ ◎ ◎ ○ ○ ○
processing devices

Server
Hybrid ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ ○ ○
Workstation

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 Basic Knowledge Regarding Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

6. Sanyo Denki’s Lineup

Sanyo Denki offers a UPS lineup ranging from output
capacities of 350 VA to 600 kVA with a focus on the online
UPS.
Table 2 is a list of the products in this lineup.
Fig. 9: “SANUPS A11K” 1 kVA
The main markets are information, communication and
industrial and there is a large supply among OEM products
(customer brand products).
In order to increase power feeding reliability, we have
many units which are standardly equipped with automatic
battery testing and are able to be configured in parallel
redundancy.
Options include an extra battery to extend battery
retention time, as well as the power source management
software, “SANUPS SOFTWARE” and “LAN Interface
Card”, which manage power source and monitor UPS status.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 show the “SANUPS A11K” 1kVA
and “SANUPS E33A” 300 kVA, respectively. Fig. 10: “SANUPS E33A” 300 kVA

Table 2: “SANUPS” series lineup

System Series name Output capacity (kVA) Remarks
A11K 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 5 Single phase
5, 10, 15, 20, Single phase, parallel redundancy
A11J
15, 30, 45 Three phase, parallel redundancy
ASE-H 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Single phase, parallel redundancy
Online A11G-Ni 1, 1.5 Single phase, nickel hydrogen battery
A23C 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 Three phase
RMA 50, 100 Three phase
AMB 10, 15, 20 Three phase
AMA W 20, 30 Three phase
E23A 20, 50, 100, 200 Three phase
Parallel processing
E33A 100,200,300,400,500,600 Three phase, parallel redundancy
Hybrid E11A 0.35, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3 Single phase

7. Conclusion these market demands and provide devices that fulfill our
customers’ needs.
Moving forward, networks will undergo even further
sophistication and play an even more important role in Reference
society. Moreover, with increased applications in a variety of Naohiko Shiokawa and Others: “Technologies Supporting Reliability
environments, it is likely that the requirements for UPS will of Power System Products” SANYO DENKI Technical Report No.36
diversify.
By changing the backup battery from a lead battery to
Tetsuo Suzuki
a lithium ion battery, which will grow in popularity, it will
Joined Sanyo Denki in 1984.
become possible to also apply UPS to peak-cut and peak Power Systems Division, 1st Design Dept.
shift. Worked on the development and design of power
We will continue to quickly develop products to meet supplies.

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