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http://www.openelectrical.org/wiki/index.php?title=AC_UPS_Sizing
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Why do the calculation?
1.2 When to do the calculation?
2 Calculation Methodology
2.1 Step 1: Collect the AC UPS Loads
2.2 Step 2: Load Profile, Design Load and Design Energy
2.3 Step 3: Battery Sizing
2.3.1 Nominal Battery (or DC Link) Voltage
2.3.2 Number of Cells in Series
2.4 Step 4: UPS Sizing
2.4.1 Overall UPS Sizing
2.4.2 Rectifier / Charger Sizing
2.4.3 Inverter Sizing
2.4.4 Static Switch Sizing
3 Worked Example
3.1 Step 1 and 2: Collect the AC UPS Loads and Construct Load Profile
3.2 Step 3: Battery Sizing
3.3 Step 4: UPS Sizing
3.3.1 Overall Sizing
3.3.2 Rectifier Sizing
3.3.3 Inverter and Static Switch Sizing
4 Template
5 Computer Software
6 What next?
Introduction
This calculation deals with the sizing of an AC uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system (i.e. rectifier, battery bank and inverter). In this calculation, it is
assumed that the AC UPS is a double conversion type with a basic system topology as shown in Figure 1.
An external maintenance bypass switch and galvanic isolation transformers are other common additions to the
basic topology, but these have been omitted from the system as they are irrelevant for the sizing calculation.
The AC UPS sizing calculation can be done when the following prerequisite information is known:
UPS loads that need to be supported
Input / Output AC voltage
Autonomy time(s)
Battery type
Calculation Methodology
The calculation procedure has four main steps:
1) Determine and collect the prospective AC UPS loads
2) Construct a load profile and determine the UPS design load (VA) and design energy (VAh)
3) Calculate the size of the stationary battery (number of cells in series and Ah capacity)
4) Determine the size of the inverter, rectifier/ charger and static switch
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The first step is to determine the type and quantity of loads that the AC UPS system will be expected to support. For industrial facilities, this will typically be
critical instrumentation and control loads such as the DCS and ESD processor and marshalling hardware, critical workstations and HMI's, telecommunications
equipment and sensitive electronics. The necessary load data should be available from the instrumentation and control engineers.
For commercial facilities, UPS loads will mainly be server, data / network and telecommunications hardware.
). The "Autonomy
The autonomy time is often specified by the Client (i.e. in their standards). Alternatively, IEEE 446, "IEEE Recommended Practice for Emergency and Standby
Power Systems for Industrial and Commercial Applications" has some guidance (particularly Table 3-2) for autonomy times. Sometimes a single autonomy time is
used for the entire AC UPS load, which obviously makes the construction of the load profile easier to compute.
(2)
where Nmax is the maximum number of battery cells
Nmin is the minimum number of battery cells
Vdc is the nominal battery / DC link voltage (Vdc)
Vi,max is the inverter maximum input voltage tolerance (%)
Vi,min is the inverter minimum input voltage tolerance (%)
Vf is the nominal cell float (or boost) voltage (Vdc)
Veod is the cell end of discharge voltage (Vdc)
The limits are based on the input voltage tolerance of the inverter. As a maximum, the battery at float voltage (or boost if applicable) needs to be within the
maximum input voltage range of the inverter. Likewise as a minimum, the battery at its end of discharge voltage must be within the minimum input voltage range
of the inverter.
Select the number of cells in between these two limits (more or less arbitrary, though somewhere in the middle of the min/max values would be appropriate).
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Select the next standard rectifier / charger rating that exceeds the total minimum DC current above.
Inverter Sizing
The inverter must be rated to continuously supply the UPS loads. Therefore, the inverter can be sized using the design AC load current (based on the selected
UPS kVA rating).
For a three-phase UPS:
Worked Example
Step 1 and 2: Collect the AC UPS Loads and Construct Load Profile
For this example, we shall use the same loads and load profile detailed in the Energy Load
Profile Calculation example. The load profile is shown in the figure right and the following
quantities were calculated:
Design load Sd = 768 VA
Design energy demand Ed = 3,216 VAh
Given the design load of 768 VA, then a 1 kVA UPS would be appropriate.
Rectifier Sizing
Given a nominal dc link voltage of 120Vdc, the design DC load current is:
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Suppose the minimum battery recharge time is 2 hours and a recharge efficiency factor of 1.1 is used. The maximum battery charging current is:
A
Therefore the total minimum DC rectifier / charger current is:
A
A DC rectifier rating of 40A is selected.
Inverter and Static Switch Sizing
Suppose the nominal output voltage is 240Vac. The design AC load current is:
A
An inverter and static switch rating of 5A is selected.
Template
A professional, fully customisable Excel spreadsheet template of the AC UPS calculation can be purchased from Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/product/mediadownload/ac-ups-calculation/15694672) .
The template is based on the calculation procedure described in this page and includes the following features:
Load schedule and automatic load profile generation
Battery sizing
UPS component sizing (e.g. rectifier, inverter, etc)
Screenshots from AC UPS Template
UPS Configuration
Load Profile
Battery Sizing
Computer Software
Preliminary sizing is normally done manually. Notwithstanding this, many AC UPS manufacturers provide sizing tools as part of their service package (for
example, see the APC online UPS selector tool (http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm?) ).
What next?
Using the results of the UPS sizing calculation, the approximate dimensions of the batteries and UPS cabinet can be estimated based on typical vendor
information. This will assist in developing the equipment / room layouts. Preliminary budget pricing can also be estimated based on the calculation results.
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Category: Calculations
This page was last modified on 16 May 2011, at 06:38.
6/10/2011 3:13 PM