Computer Power Protection

Technology

A Computer Science Article By:

Paris Joseph
Joseann Boneo
Shurbrandy Pascall
Anya-Mari Fitzwilliam
With the advancements in technology, it was essential that our computing devices had protection in
all forms. Computer power protection devices protect our fragile equipment from the effects of power
failure and power surges. The unforeseen failure can potentially cause the computer to switch off or
shut down incorrectly, resulting in critical damage to the hard drive. Power protection devices take us
one step closer to properly caring for our devices as it is essential for us to do so. In this article we
will look at the various power protection strategies, their similarities and differences as well as
scenarios where they can be used at home, small offices and for commercial usage.

Before we begin, we should know the definitions of power failure and power surges. Power surges
occur when something boosts the electrical charge in the power lines which causes an increase in the
electrical potential energy, resulting in the increase of the flow of current to your wall outlet. Various
things can cause this to happen. Power failure is a period when the electricity supply to a certain
building or area is disrupted, for example damaged cables.

1) Surge Protection Devices

Surge Protective Devices are used to protect the electrical system, consisting of the consumer unit,
wiring and additional components from electrical power fluctuations known as transient over-
voltages. Transient over-voltages are surges that can reach tens of kilovolts with a duration of
microseconds. Despite being short in their duration, the high energy content can cause serious
problems to equipment connected to the line. Using Surge Protection Devices, the protection of your
television, computer, washing machines and even fridges are guaranteed. The consequences of a
surge can result in either instant failure or harm to the equipment that will only present itself over
time. SPDs are usually installed within the consumer unit (a type of distribution board within which
an electrical power feed provides supply to secondary circuits) to protect the electrical installation. It
is vital to remember that protecting the electrical installation only and not the other services could
leave other ways for transient voltages to come into the installation.

A surge protector looks like an extension cord containing numerous outlets at one end, but it has a
higher power—absorbing a power surge that could potentially go downstream towards your more
valuable equipment.
It is important to note that not all power strips are surge protectors. Though they are similar in
appearance, the purpose of a power strip is to add extra outlet space. It can be difficult to differentiate
between the two, however, a surge protector should have a joule rating on its packaging.

A typical surge protector passes the electrical current along the outlet to number of the devices
plugged into the power strip. If the voltage happens to rise above the acceptable level, the protector
will deflect the extra electricity into the outlet’s grounding wire. Grounding wires run parallel to the
hot and neutral wires. They give a pathway for electrical current to the wire if there was a breakdown
in the system of hot and neutral wires that normally carry the current.

There are three different types of Surge Protective Devices: Type 1 SPD which is installed at the
origin, Type 2 SPD which is installed into the sub distribution boards and Type 3 SPD which is
installed close to the protected load.

Type 1 SPD: is recommended in the case of service-sector and industrial buildings, protected by a
lightning protection system or a meshed cage. It protects electrical installations against direct
lightning strokes. It can discharge the back-current from lightning spreading from the earth conductor
to the network conductors. It is characterized by a 10/350 current wave.

Type 2 SPD: is the main protection system for all low voltage electrical installations. Installed in each
electrical switchboard, it prevents the spread of over-voltages in the electrical installations and
protects the loads. It is characterized by an 8/20 µs current wave.

Type 3 SPD: These SPDs have a low discharge capacity. They must therefore mandatorily be
installed as a supplement to Type 2 SPD and in the vicinity of sensitive loads. It is characterized by a
combination of voltage waves and current waves.

Case Scenario

Surge protectors should mainly be used in a place where you have numerous devices in the area.
Using them at home for your televisions, phones, computers or desktops and telephone lines is a good
idea as it regulates power surges that could cause harm to these devices if directly plugged into an
outlet.
2) Uninterruptable Power Supply

An uninterruptible power supply or uninterruptible power source (UPS) is an electrical device

that provides backup power to a load when the input power source fails. A UPS is typically used to
protect hardware such as computers and other telecommunication equipment or other electrical
apparatus where an unforeseen power interference could cause fatalities, serious business disruption
or data loss.

The three general categories of modern UPS systems are; 1) on-line, 2) line-interactive and 3)
standby.

 An on-line UPS uses a "double conversion" method of accepting AC input, remedying to DC

for passing through the rechargeable battery, then inverting back to 120 V/230 V AC for
powering the protected equipment.

 A line-interactive UPS maintains the inverter in line and redirects the battery's DC current
path from the normal charging mode to supplying current when power is lost.

 In a standby or offline system, the load is powered directly by the input power and the backup
power circuitry is only invoked when the utility power fails.

Offline/standby
Offline/standby UPS: The green line illustrates the flow of electric power. The offline/standby UPS
offers only the most basic features, providing surge protection and battery backup. The protected
equipment is normally connected directly to incoming utility power. When the incoming voltage
falters the UPS turns on its internal DC-AC inverter circuitry, which is powered from an internal
storage battery. The UPS then mechanically switches the connected equipment on to its DC-AC
inverter output. The UPS will be designed to power certain equipment, such as a personal computer,
without any objectionable dip.

Line-interactive
Line-interactive UPS: The green line illustrates the flow of electric power.

The line-interactive UPS is similar in operation to a standby UPS, but with the addition of a multi-tap
variable-voltage autotransformer.

This type of UPS is able to tolerate continuous undervoltage brownouts and overvoltage surges

without consuming the limited reserve battery power. It instead compensates by automatically
selecting different power taps on the autotransformer.

Online/double-conversion

In an internet UPS, the batteries are always connected to the inverter, in order that no power transfer
switches are necessary. When power loss occurs, the rectifier simply drops out of the circuit and
therefore the batteries keep the power steady and unchanged. When power is restored, the rectifier
resumes carrying most of the load and begins charging the batteries, though the charging current is
also limited to stop the high-power rectifier from damaging the batteries. the most advantage of an
internet UPS is its ability to supply an "electrical firewall" between the incoming utility power and
sensitive equipment.

The online UPS is right for environments where electrical isolation is important or for equipment
that's very sensitive to power fluctuations. the net UPS could also be necessary when the facility
environment is "noisy", when utility power sags, outages and other anomalies are frequent, when
protection of sensitive IT equipment loads is required, or when operation from an extended-run
backup generator is critical.

The basic technology of the web UPS is that the same as in an exceedingly standby or line-interactive
UPS. However, it typically costs far more, thanks to it having a far greater current AC-to-DC battery-
charger/rectifier, and with the rectifier and inverter designed to run continuously with improved
cooling systems.

For large power units, dynamic uninterruptible power supplies (DUPS) are sometimes used. A
synchronous motor is attached on the mains via a choke. Energy is accumulated in a flywheel. When
the mains power fails, an eddy-current regulation maintains the power on the load as long as the
flywheel's energy is not exhausted. DUPS are sometimes combined or integrated with a diesel
generator that is turned on after a brief delay, forming a diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply
(DRUPS).

Case Scenario

A gaming company experiences a power fluctuation due to a storm in their area. Because of this
storm, a tree falls on electrical lines causing a power outage at the company. However, the company
has a UPS system put in place and this allows them to save any important work quickly. The UPS
gives back up power in case of power outages such as these and provide internet access as well. This
method works good enough if your staff are predominantly laptop users, as that means you only need
power for your Wi-Fi gear.

3) Power Conditioner

A power conditioner, also known as a line conditioner or a power line conditioner, is a

device intended to improve the quality of the power that is delivered to electrical load
equipment. In simpler terms, the computer power protection device acts as a buffer between
the outlet and your system, smoothing out voltage fluctuations as well as radio and
electromagnetic interference that can affect system performance.
Power conditioners vary in function and size, generally according to their use. Some power
conditioners provide minimal voltage regulation while others protect against six or more
power quality problems. Units may be small enough to mount on a printed circuit board or
large enough to protect an entire factory.

Small power conditioners are rated in volt-amperes (V·A) while larger units are rated in
kilovolt-amperes (kV·A).

Ideally electric power would be supplied as a sine wave with the amplitude and frequency
given by national standards (in the case of mains) or system specifications (in the case of a
power feed not directly attached to the mains) with an impedance of zero ohms at all
frequencies.

There are two types of power conditioners: 1) AC power conditioner which is the typical
power conditioner that provides clean AC power to sensitive electrical equipment, and 2)
Power line conditioners which take in power and modify it based on the requirements of the
machinery to which they are connected.

As with any power protection device, the power conditioner has advantages as well as
disadvantages. One advantage is that it extends the life of a person’s gear and one
disadvantage is that a high-quality device is quite expensive.

Case Scenario

Harry decided to have a sleepover with his friends Lucas, Craig and Simeon for his birthday.
The guys planned on having a video gaming marathon by hooking up their ps5 to the
television as that was Harry’s favourite thing to do. However, the guys are home alone for
the weekend and have intentions to “wake up the neighbourhood” on that particular night.
Suggest a power protection technology that Harry, Lucas, Craig and Simeon can use to make
this possible.

Solution

Harry and his friends can use a power conditioner as it purifies the power coming out of the
wall so that their television (when hooked up to the ps5) can perform at its best, giving the
best visual/ audio experience available.
4) Circuit Breakers
Circuit breakers are designed to switch off the electrical supply in a circuit when faults are
detected by excessive current.

The consumer unit circuit breaker on normally be found inside a house near the main door. It
consists of two types of circuit breaker. These are:

1. The Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)

 The Miniature Circuits Breaker (MCB) will “trip” or break the circuit when
there is a short circuit (a circuit with a low resistance) or when there is a large
amount of current through the circuit. This means that when the current
exceeds the normal value, it will “trip” the respective circuits breaker and thus
cutting off the electricity supply connected to that part of the house circuit.
 The Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB)
 The Earth Circuit Breaker detects small current leakage from the live wire to
the earth wire. When a small current leakage (generally about 10-30 amperes)
is detected in the earth wire, the ELCB will “trip” and switch off the mains
electricity supply. Without the ELCB, a person who touches the metal case
may then suffer an electrical shock.

Case Scenario
At home, John suspected a short in a device that he has plugged into an outlet, he first
checked the exterior of the cord and looked for wear on the outer covering. He saw a black
discoloration and then called an electrician to repair the fault. The black discoloration was a
result of the wires touching. This was caused by wiring inside the interior walls of the home,
“tripping” the circuit breaker for that part of the house. The electrician turned off all the lights
and unplugged all the appliances on that specific circuit and replaced the wires in the outlet.
The MCB was reset by switching it back to the “ON” position to get the electricity supply
again.

5) Voltage Regulator
A Voltage Regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage.
Voltage Regulator works for every product that runs on DC Power. Voltage Regulators take
unstable input voltages and convert them to higher or lower constant output that matches the
voltage and current that electronic circuits need.

Basic regulators of the linear IC type simply drop the source down to the desired level and
discard the remaining as heat.

NB: Rapidly switching a voltage input off and on can cause an average voltage output.

Case Scenario

A company discover that their electronic equipment is supplied with the incorrect amount of
voltage. If this problem is not rectified it can result High input voltage raging: up to 45v or a
very low dropout voltage causing overheating and damage. A Voltage Regulator was
connected to the electronic equipment because it takes incoming AC voltage and stabilizes it,
to provide a constant voltage.
Linear Regulators
An active pass device (such as a BJT or MOSFET) is used in a linear voltage regulator. Since linear
regulators are step-down converters, their output voltage is always lower than the input voltage by
definition. These regulators, on the other hand, have a few advantages: they're usually simple to design,
dependable, and cost-effective.

Switching Regulator

A switching regulator circuit is more difficult to build than a linear regulator. Switching regulators offer
the advantages of being highly efficient, having improved thermal performance, and can accommodate
larger current and wider VIN/VOUT applications. Depending on the application requirements, they can
attain greater than 95% efficiency. A switching power supply system may require additional components.
Switching regulators are more adaptable than linear regulators since they can be step-down converters,
step-up converters, or a combination of the two.
6) Surge suppressor

A surge suppressor, also known as a surge protector is a device infixed i the alternating current utility line
or telephone line to protect electronic equipment against voltage "spikes" called as transients. This term
"transient suppressor" is a better fit for this type of gadget. Surge suppressors are typically tiny boxes
having many utility outlets, a power switch, and a 3-wire cord for hooking into a wall outlet.

Case Scenario

A small business recently experienced frequent “blackouts” and want to find a simple and
cost-effective way to protect her high-end electronic equipment. After intensive research,
they realized that a surge suppressor could be used because it generally extends the life of
electronic devices, protecting these devices from damage due to transient voltage. They
simply plugged all the electronic equipment to the surge suppressor.
Compare and Contrast between the Power Protection Devices

DEVICES SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES

 They are both super Surge suppressors differ
Surge Protector cheap and portable. from surge protectors in that
Vs Most surge surge protectors are
Surge Suppressor protectors or basically just extension
suppressors on the cords with minimal built-in
market are not really protection (fuses, etc.) Surge
designed for suppressors are for large-
computers. Most scale protection while surge
have a clamping protectors are for small-
voltage of 330 volts scale protection.
or greater, which
although appropriate
for a large TV, is not
at all sufficient for a
personal computer.

Two similar devices used to A surge suppressor blocks or

Surge Protector help maintain correct shunts high voltage spikes in
Vs voltage for electrical the AC power line while
Voltage Regulator devices. voltage regulator takes
incoming AC voltage and
stabilizes it. Voltage
Regulator takes incoming
AC voltage and stabilizes it,
to provide a constant voltage
to any connected electrical
device.
Protecting your equipment A line conditioner takes in
 Surge Protector from high power surges can power and modifies it based
Vs be done using either line on the requirements of the
Line Conditioner conditioners or surge machinery to which it is
protectors. These two connected while surge
electrical gadgets help to protectors don't alter the
prevent voltage in your power flowing through it at
devices from shooting up all, unless that power is over
and damaging computers, a certain amount. A surge
games consoles, or other protector may prevent spikes
machines that use a power from causing damage to
cable rather than batteries. sensitive electrical devices.
Neither of them protects an Surge protectors protect
Surge Protector electrical device from low electrical equipment from
Vs voltage (voltage going under voltage spikes. While circuit
Circuit Breaker 110-120), which can damage breakers protect wires from
them. starting a fire due from too
many amps (amount of
electrical current), surge
protectors protect your
appliances from power
surges, which is a brief spike
in voltage (electrical power
or force)
They devices meant to While a surge protector
Surge Protector protect your appliances, functions like a power strip,
Vs such as computers and uninterruptible power
Uninterruptable Power refrigerators, from power sources (UPS) work like
Supply damage. temporary back up power.
UPS devices work
independently, providing
power when the main power
supply fails. A UPS protects
users as well as devices
during disrupted power.
 Both ensures house safety The UPS is a very useful
Circuit Breaker for household appliances device that provides a
Vs and other electrical devices. battery backup for the
Uninterruptable Power appliances you use at home.
Supply It gives an emergency power
when there is no electricity
and the main power fails.
Circuit breakers help in
controlling the electric
supply in the house. When
there is a current overload,
the electricity is shut off by
the breaker. This helps in
ensuring the safety of the
house by preventing fires.
Protects an electrical device A Voltage Regulator will
Line Conditioner from low voltage (voltage stabilize the voltage output
Vs going under 110-120) to a constant set value while
Voltage Regulator the Power Conditioner will
filter those sudden spikes.
Protects an electrical device Line conditioners
Line Conditioner from low voltage (voltage automatically adjust low and
Vs going under 110-120) high voltages to provide safe
Uninterruptable Power computer-grade power. UPS
Supply systems are your best
defence against downtime,
damage and data loss.
Protects an electrical device UPS provides backup
Voltage Regulator from low voltage (voltage electrical power for a short
Vs going under 110-120) period of time to critical
Uninterruptable Power equipment in the event of
Supply brownouts (extended periods
of low voltage) or total
failure of normal electrical
service. A Voltage
Regulator will stabilize the
voltage output to a constant
set value