DC and AC UPS Comparison IEEE Paper 071220 - F
DC and AC UPS Comparison IEEE Paper 071220 - F
DC and AC UPS Comparison IEEE Paper 071220 - F
This is a preliminary copy of a paper originally submitted to The IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. It is strictly
forbidden to publicly distribute it or make it available for publication without the written consent of the authors.
John Åkerlund, MSscEE, general manager, Netpower Labs AB, Fig 1. Structure of the DC UPS and load
Uninterruptible Power Networks AB, Vasavagen 35, SE-18142 Lidingo,
Sweden. Email: john.akerlund@upn.se B. The AC UPS
Christer Boije af Gennäs, MScEE, system development, Netpower Labs In comparison, the AC UPS [2] is far more complex and
AB, chairman, Uninterruptible Power Networks AB, and Taki Sweden AB, intricate to operate. All of the parameters: voltage, frequency,
Hirdvagen 12, SE-14572 Norsborg, Sweden. Email: chris.boije@taki.se phase, and waveform require management, control and
“Comparison of the AC UPS and the DC UPS solutions for critical loads” rev F, Dec 20, 2007 2
supervision, at a minimum. An ac bypass switch adds to the rectifier in series with a dc/dc converter as shown in Fig. 3.
complexity. This construction makes it possible to operate the load with
both ac and dc. However, the dc voltage level must equal the
peak value of the ac voltage. Battery chargers and high
frequency switch mode power supplies are example of such
electronic loads.
“Rotating loads” include both ac machines and universal
machines. Universal machines can, as the name indicates, be
supplied with both ac and dc. This type is mostly used in
simple appliancies. Ac machines cannot be supplied with dc
since they need a time varying magnetic field. However, for
Fig 2. Structure of the AC UPS and load reasons of energy saving ac motors, fans, pumps etc today are
often interfaced by variable speed electronic drives. This
III. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES power electronic device is nothing less than an inverter circuit,
Even though normal operation will be to supply the fed from dc, making it possible to control the speed of the
equipment with energy from the commercial ac grid there are machine by controlling voltage and frequency.
cases when there is a wish to be able to include alternative
A. The switch mode power supply unit fed from ac
energy sources in a system. Photovoltaics and fuel cells give
dc output which may easily be introduced in a DC UPS On a large scale, we nowadays use electronic equipment
system, without the need for conversion to ac. This saves and illumination with built-in switch mode power supplies,
valuable energy and makes alternative energy an attractive SMPS, composed of three fundamental parts, Fig 3. (A similar
supplementary energy source with a DC UPS. configuration with the DC/DC converter replaced by a DC/AC
low respective high frequency inverter is used in variable
IV. THE EQUIPMENT POWERED BY THE UPS speed drives and eletronic ballasts for lighting.)
B. The switch mode power supply unit when fed from dc C. Redesigned power units is the optimal solution when
From Fig. 3 it is obvious that it ought to be fully possible to changing to DC UPS.
feed most switch mode power supplies with dc. They can be The limitation of applying DC UPS for loads exclusively
connected to either 230 VAC or 350 VDC directly. (350 VDC designed for dc would affect the area of applications for such
is close to the peak value of the alternating voltage). This systems negatively because very few pieces of equipment, like
introduces an opportunity to reduce the unfavorable loading of servers, are today available dedicated for a dc supply.
the ac mains network and to eliminate the disturbances and An obvious solution would be to replace the AC/DC power
problems in AC UPS systems. A DC/DC converter generates supplies in existing equipment with compatible dc units. There
no harmful low frequency overtones back to the source, of is some interest from end unit manufacturers and OEM
course, see fig 4. DC/DC manufacturers, so eventually there may be
If exclusively direct current is to be distributed to the replacement units available for the more popular types of
equipment, as from a DC UPS, the power supplies can consist equipment.
of DC/DC-converters only. The rectifying part (with the However, provided one selects a suitable dc level to operate
preregulating PFC or filter) can be omitted. As a consequence from, there is an intermediate solution: a multitude of
the efficiency of the power unit will be increased by 2-5%. equipment, originally designed for 230 VAC operation, may
This may sound negligible but as there are billions of them it already be operated directly from the dc system voltage
will have a great impact in the macro perspective. equally.
Thus the DC UPS would give the best results if it is used
D. Testing proves that many existing ac units can operate
with loads including switch mode converters specially from dc
designed for the uninterrupted DC voltage. That would allow
Netpower Labs AB has tested a large number of loads to
the designers to fine tune performance to highest possible
find out which of them would accept a dc input, with only
efficiency and reliability and also save some money in
minor external modifications or no modifications at all.
components since equipment designed exclusively for DC
The analysis shows that there are principally four different
input is less complex and has a lower component count than
categories of designs:
SMPS AC/DC units.
1. AC units with input rectifiers (with or without
active PFC circuits) and straight forward switch
mode DC/DC design in the conversion circuits.
2. Same as category 1, but where the designers for
some reason have taken shortcuts in the design
using capacitive couplings or mains frequency
transformers to produce internal voltages (e.g. for
starting the equipment or for signalling).
3. Same as category 1, but with alarm circuits to
sense the ac input voltage zero crossings in order
to indicate “mains problem”. This somewhat
overambitious alarm is sometimes used to block
the power supply from operation, but more often it
is just sent to the powered equipment for a
decision of what action to take.
4. Pure ac designs with low frequency transformer
input circuits.
discomfort, and higher current level (10 mA) can give rise to
D. Economy
cramp, making it impossible to leave hold of a live object.
A major operator of server hotels in Sweden has reported Should the current increase to about 40 – 50 mA there is a
that electricity stands for roughly one third of the total high risk of fibrillation and lethal influence already after about
operating costs over a 5 year period for his server centres. a second, and at higher current level even faster.”
The economical aspects of operating a data centre is
complex and involves many parameters. One dominant factor
is cost for the total energy supply and system inclusive of VII. CONCLUSION
cooling. Lowest possible heat dissipation i.e. highest possible
It is shown that in most fields studied the DC UPS
efficiency in equipment is of course a key factor. But other
compares advantageously over AC UPS. Because of the
aspects like the reliability of the power supply system and the
advances in electronics, a mains frequency inverter is seldom
power quality are important for a continuous low cost
a necessary part of a UPS system. Such an inverter in the UPS
operation. Simplicity and good overview facilitates
system contributes negatively to efficiency, cost and reliability
maintenance and low cost for service and trouble shooting.
of the system. Various types of by-pass switches often
Operators face a situation where the heat dissipation has
included also make the system complicated and vulnerable.
become the limiting factor for expansion of data centres.
The 350 V DC UPS system offers a possibility to
Modern blade servers has become so compact, powerful and
implement substantial energy savings in two steps:
heat producing, that the data centre cooling system has
1. Successive implementation of DC UPS in plants also
become a bottle neck blocking expansion. Expensive data
including existing (AC/DC) SMPS units rendering up
centre floor area can not be used unless the complete cooling
to 20% efficiency increase.
system is upgraded. This leads to extreme marginal effects in
2. Using 350-380 V DC/DC power units in the powered
cost. Conversely even small improvements in efficiency will
equipment instead of the present AC/DC. That will
have tremendous impact on cost.
give an additional efficiency increase by up to 5 %.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss all different
The annual energy consumption in the world for computer
system options and their pros and cons in the field of
and server equipment apt for back up has been estimated to
economy. A moderate number of combinations generate
the magnitude of 100 TWh (1011 = hundred billion kWh) and
numerous efficiency numbers and figures to calculate and
doubling every third to fourth year. Even few percents of
discuss, [2] and [4].
efficiency increase will give substantial benefits for energy
A qualitative estimation shows that there definitely is a
conservation.
potential for great savings in total cost of operation of data
The simple implementation of DC UPS systems makes
centres by using DC UPS. We judge the range to be of 10 to
better use of energy and other resources which in the end will
30 % in savings versus the current ac concepts. The amount of
contribute to meeting the challenge of global warming as well
electric energy used for data centres and data processing
as it gives clear advantages in security and operation of
worldwide has now reached a magnitude where every percent
advanced technology equipment.
saved in heat dissipation is extremely valuable, see [5].
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
VI. PERSONAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
Great thanks to Dr. Annabelle Pratt of Intel Corporation for
Regarding personal safety, direct current has obvious
advice, checking the content and comments to the English
advantages. No doubt alternating current at 50 - 60 Hz is a
language.
danger to the life of human beings and animals. Alternating
current can cause cramps in the muscles and in the heart. REFERENCES
Direct current does not cause cramps nor pose as high a risk
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