Technical guidance: Ups systems

Po erfuldri ers
for maintenance
A Ups system is the central building block of a Power Continuity Plan in medical facilities, but

such equipment requires careful maintenance to continue fulfilling its vital role in delivering
power resilience, and avoid catastrophic downtime, and potentially tens of thousands of pounds

in costs to rectify the issues caused by poor maintenance. In our latest technical guidance
article, Steve Mason, MD at Bender UK, one of the leading providers of isolated power supplies,

theatre control panels, Ups systems, and Steris surgical products, and a turnkey provider of
solutions for safe handling of electrical power and advanced provision of critical care products,
examines some of the issue surrounding Ups maintenance

he sophistication and complexity of

a Power Continuity Plan will depend
upon the business/clinical risk
assessment, the level of resilience required,
the size of loads to protect, future
expansion, and the budget available.
In terms of resilience, a Power Continuity
Plan is concerned with the use of multiple
power paths to ensure AC supply continuity
even during maintenance, the ability of the
power protection systems to clear fault

If.

conditions, and achievement of the lowest

possible number of single points-of-failure.

A Ups (Uninterruptible Power System) is
the primary building block around which
the plan is designed. Dualinput supplies
and static transfer switches are riot

considered viable options for this role,

but can provide useful support functions to
improve overall system design. A number
of Ups configurations are available,
including single, parallel, and series
redundant systems - each offering a

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Benderservice contract personneltestihg Ups equly7ment.

maintenance and monitoring of the
system and its operational conditions.
Battery problems are common, and can
accountfor over 98% of Ups failures at

this stage

different level of resilience, Mean Time

Between Failure (MTBF), and availability.

Failure rates for Ups, in common with
other sensitive electronic devices, follow
a 'Bath Tub curve' through three distinct

Temperature is overwhelming Iy the single

biggest factor in Ups battery failures, and
high ambienttemperatures can cause
batteries to breakdown, casings to melt
and weld together into an immovable
mass, and internal cabling insulation to

periods.

become brittle and fail. Other consumable

Ups failure curve

'Infant mortality' failures: These early

failures are due to component or
manufacturing defects, or installation

items that require monitoring include

capacitors and fans which, of course,
takes you back to temperature - the big

Issues

threat to Ups batteries.

Random failures: during normal working,

the rate of these is low, and fairly
constant.

Wearoutfailures: at the end of the

equipment's working life, or due to poor

Health Estate Journal
October 2013

Not our problem?

Maintenance teams operating in hospitals
and medical facilities may consider that
'Infant Mortality' issues relating to

installation faults, or immediate

component failure, fallinto the category

of 'not my problem'. Legacy issues of this
kind can, however, come back to bite you.
For example, while a Ups system may go
operational during the commissioning
phase, it may be that systems such as the
ventilation or airconditioning required to
maintain ambienttemperatures in the
plantroom are not put to work for some
months. During that pre-handover period,
damaging Iy high temperatures could
develop which could seriously impact

on the life of the batteries years later.

An earlier errorthen becomes the problem
of the maintenance team.

The standard design life for healthcare

Ups installations is 10 years at 20-25'C
(BS6290 part 4). In other systems this
design life may be only five years, but
for medical systems 10 years is now
the norm.

Technical guidance: Ups systems

ypical' Ups installation
Batteries are typically 12 volt cells usually alongside the Ups, and consist of
a string of 10 x 12 volt batteries - 120 volts
across the single string. If a cell fails and
'goes open circuit' then it can render the
whole string in operative. An installation
in a medical facility will therefore often
incorporate a parallel string for greater
resilience of supply.
The most common battery rating is
the Amp-Hour Rating. This is a unit of
measurement for battery capacity,
obtained by multiplying a current flow
in amperes by the time in hours of
discharge. The ampere hour rating
determines how much current is supplied
for how long. For example, in a typical
installation. to deliver one hour autonomy
the consulting engineer may specify two
battery strings, each providing 30 minutes
of power in the event of a mains failure.
If one fails and goes open circuit, then the
other string can take up the slack and
maintain supply. This type of multi-string

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owni P
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7:9chnici^ns carrying out maintenance checks on Ups equtoment and batteries.

Rap' battery age g

opened, the maintenance team discovered

The most importantfactorfor battery

that batteries had swollen and burst.

ageing is temperature. Higher

temperatures can actually improve
immediate performance, but cause rapid
ageing and early failure. A temperature

arrangement means maintenance teams

tolerate between 18'C and 24'C. Lower

Battery casings had melted into a mass

of lead, and distorted plastic, and were
leaking acid gel. The batteries were
crammed into the compartment, and it
took a team wearing full PPE because of
the presence of hazardous materials two
days to prise them out. The lead time to

can isolate one string for maintenance

purposes and still maintain Ups integrity

temperatures are not normally an issue,

but high temperatures certainly are

acquire replacement batteries meant

further downtime and costs.

HTM 06-01

Controlling temperature is vital to avoid

premature, and potentially very costly,
replacement, which will invariably lead
to system downtime if not caught early
enough. It could cause a complete system

Most in-house maintenance at medical

installations is governed by the standard,

HTM 06-01, Electrical Services Supply and
Distribution: Part B - Operational
management relating to Uninterruptible
Power Supplies, inverters, and batteries
The HTM recommendation for Ups

of 20'C is the optimum battery

temperature, although most systems will

At 30'C the battery design life is halved

failure, which often becomes evident only

when the battery set is placed under load
during a mains power supply failure

autonomy is 30 to 60 minutes, depending

on an assessment of business risk and

Heat loss

spatial constraints to accommodate the

Ups units generate heat loss, and this

increases as the Ups is put under load.
Batteries also generate heat when
charging, and together the Ups and the
batteries can generate a significant heat
loss, which can be a big factor when
trying to maintain an optimum
temperature of 18-24'C. The location

batteries. However, the latest electrical

wiring regulations state that Ups

installations should offer a minimum of
three hours' life - unless there is a back-

up supply available within 15 seconds

with sufficient fuel for 24 hours - in other

words, a generator. If a generator is

available, three hours' autonomy can
be reduced down to one

Whatever system a medical

establishment may have in place currently
to protect critical services, future
installations will almost certainly require
more batteries, because the autonomy
requirement is Increasing. Certainty in
the duration of their performance, and
maintaining that performance, are thus
crucial.

of the Ups relative to the batteries is

therefore an important consideration,

and ifthey are in same room, then air
conditioning may be required to maintain
a safe operating temperature.
How the batteries are arranged can also
affect how they perform. If they are tightly
packed into a barely adequate space,

Standard maintena co

procedures
The standard, HTM 06-01, Electrical

Services Supply and Distribution: Part B

- Operational management relating to
Uninterruptible Power Supplies, inverters,
and batteries, lays down specific guidance
for maintenance of Ups systems.
The maintenance team is normally
responsible for the non-intrusive visual
inspection of uninterruptible power
supplies (Upss), inverters, and batteries,
which should be considered as a frequent
maintenance task to be carried out at
least once a month. The non-intrusive

visual inspection should include a visual

check that no alarms have been activated,

and that rooms are apparently at design

condition.

Full service maintenance checks

Where the Ups, inverter, or battery,
includes self-monitoring or data-logging
facilities, visual inspection should include
a printout of these facilities. In this way, a

there will not be sufficient room for case

expansion and heat dissipation - and so

failures are likely to occur. Maintenance
teams should be aware of these issues,

By-pass switching

and take appropriate action before they

Many installations also have a wraparound

isolation or by-pass switch which allows
a by-pass of the whole Ups - putting the
load solely onto the mains power supply

become critical.

Failing to act on amings

to know how it is arranged, and how to

put the load onto the mains, in the event

A worst case scenario with battery failure

can costtens of thousands of pounds to
rectify, and lead to extensive downtime.
In a recent incident, the site operators
at a UK hospital failed to act on warnings
abouttemperature issues, and the

of a Ups problem

batteries failed. When the cabinet was

Most Ups installations come with an

external by-pass switch arrangement

It is prudent for any operations manager

These batteries, damaged by

excessive heat, are swollen andj;alled.
They will need replacing - a costly
and di^ruptiVe procedure.
Health Estate Journal
October 90/3

Technical guidance: Ups systems

condition-based maintenance system can
be initiated for full-service maintenance

checks. The cleaning of ventilation grilles

on the Ups should be carried out at the
same time - because blocked ventilation

grilles again lead to higher temperatures.

In addition, the room's general
environmental conditions should be noted,

and most particularly its temperature;

as a general rule maintenance crews
should follow their instincts - so if a room

should be tested online (with the mains

disconnected). The battery discharge
voltage and current should be monitored
over a 10-minute period. Following this,
the battery voltage and current-recharge
conditions must be observed, and any
adverse conditions corrected.

The test should also verify the condition

of the rectifier and inverter components,
including the static switch and all bypass
switches, and inverter input and output

Other third party changeover devices

are developed primarily for non-medical,
industrial applications, where the intrinsic
level of device safety and reliability is set
against the continuity of an industrial
process, not the support of human life
ATICS is, in our view, rapidly becoming
the industry standard for resilient IPS
specifications, and is the only device of
its kind that specifically meets the needs
of the healthcare market.

waveforms should be checked and verified.

appears to be warm, or even hat, then

you may have a problem, and it should
be investigated.

All cable and component connections

Six-monthly frequency

ServicertesVrecord

a I, .

should be tightened as required

I .!.'n
a'

Ups installations in line with the

documentation
A simple single-line diagram of the
Ups/inverter arrangement, indicating how

recommendations of HTM 06-01 Part B.

the units are connected Into the electrical

Some suppliers claim that annual checks

are sufficient, but every six months is the
most prudent maintenance frequency to
safeguard systems, and avoid

infrastructure, should be maintained as

Forthe medical sector, Bender UK

advocates six-monthly service checks on

unscheduled downtime.

For example, a battery which is not

connected to a power system for charging
- perhaps due to a fuse blowing or some
other minor system failure, will retain its
charge for up to six months, and therefore
is still available for service. Beyond six
months, however, it will almost certainly
not be available when required

part of the operational and maintenance

manual and site logbook.
The site logbook should contain full
details of the Ups, inverter, and battery
units, including:
. Battery autonomy
. Ups rating (kVA).
. Rectifier type (six or 12 pulse)
. Mode of operation (single/double

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3. g' ' ^
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eve

ason

conversion, on/offline).

. Single or dual supply.

Steve Mason was appointed managing

. Date of installation
. Manufacturer

then, the turnover of this subsidiary

Non-intrusive functional tests

. Service contract details

of the 'global technology leader' has

Bender UK therefore recommends that

non-intrusive functional tests of Ups

Changeover solutions

the workforce has almost doubled.

installations, inverters, and batteries, be

carried out every six months by dedicated

service personnel.
These functional tests should include

a physical test of any connected automatic

or visual alarms. The tests should also

verify that the inverter input would change

from the rectifier output to battery output
within 0.5 seconds. Similarly, the static
switch should operate within 0.5 seconds

following any fault condition of the

inverter unit.

In the same way, the full service of Ups

systems, inverters, and batteries, should
be considered as a maintenance task

every six months, to improve the likelihood

The increased use of parallel power

sources operating as back-up or
redundancy solutions provide further
resilience for medical power infrastructure
Many healthcare installations are
instituting high integrity changeover
systems to bring in power from another
board or source.
The ATICS unitfrom Bender UK is the

only changeover solution purposedesigned for medical applications with

patient safety at the very core of its
conception and development. Central to
the ATICS design is the incorporation of
permanent self-testing across all critical
components, bringing increased peace

of a successful outcome when the

of mind over other products that are

batteries are called upon

Industry guidelines suggest that Ups
systems above 80 kVA may have selfdiagnostic test facilities for battery

susceptible to failure without prior

condition, and that these can be used

to safeguard the system. However, in

practice these self-diagnostic test facilities
are very rarely specified or installed,
and battery testing therefore generally
falls to the Ups service engineer.

Holding theI charge

Full service tests should demonstrate

that the batteries can hold their fully

charged state while the Ups is on
bypass. Secondly, the batteries and Ups
Health Estate Journal

20

October 2013

warning.

ATICS has the unique distinction of

achieving independent eruV) accreditation
to the Safety Integrity Level (Sit) Level 2
standard, and compliance with BS7671

director of Bender UK in 2010. Since

gro n Largo per cent yearon-year, and

He has always been fascinated by

electrical systems, and reckons tits

natural aptitude is inherited from his
family of electrical engineers. As a boy

lie spent weekends helping his father

to carry out electrical fitting and
maintenance work etbusinesses and
engineering companies around the
Fumess area. He served an electrical
craft apprenticeship at the Vickers
shipyard in Barrow, and progressed
through a series of contracting jobs to
gain wider experience, before joining
Bender in 2003

He quickly identified that changes in

electrical regulations had created a
need to use unearthed power supplies
within critical healthcare applications,
which created new opportunities for
Bender equipment in the giant hospital
developments being built at the time via
the 'Private Finance Initiative revolution'.
Bender UK became known as the

threat to power resilience inherent in

authority on protection for the

sophisticated electrical systems
required by the new healthcare facilities.

the traditional single supply cable, by

enabling supply from two different sources.
The primary supply maintains normal
operation, but, in the event of failure, ATICs
transfers over to the secondary supply
within 05 seconds to comply with

to extend their knowledge of secure

power infrastructure for hospitals,
and expanded their offering to include
uninterruptible power systems (Ups).
As a result, the company grew rapidly

2008 (2001),

It removes the single-point-of-failure

HTM 06-01.

Steve Mason and his team worked hard