Whatparallelredundancydoestothepowerdistribution

system?

What parallel redundancy does to the power distribution system? (photo credit: hipowersystems.com)

Increasingreliability//
Redundancyisausefulmethodofincreasingreliabilityandoptimisingthebalancebetween
operationeffectivenessandexpenditure.Inthecontextofreliability,redundancysignifiesthata
systemwillcontinuetofunctionsatisfactorilyinspiteofthefailureofsomeofthecomponent
parts.
Thisresiliencetofailuresisobtainedbyprovidingalternativepathsofoperation,byarranging
selectedelementsofthesysteminparallel.Generally,alternativepathsofoperationcanbe
achievedbyfollowing:
StandbyRedundancy
ActiveorParallelRedundancy
N+1and1+1Redundancy

StandbyRedundancy
Standbyredundancymeansthatanalternativemeansofperformingthefunctionisprovidedbut
isinoperativeuntilneeded.Itisswitchedonuponfailureoftheprimarymeansofperformingthe
function.

Anexampleofstandbyredundancywouldbetheuseof
astandbygeneratorinabuildingtoensurecontinuityof
supplyincaseofamainsfailure.Thegeneratorisnotcalled
foruntilitisneededwhenthepowersupplyfails.
Suchaschemewouldnotbesuitableforacomputer
system,becausedatawouldbelostduringtherelatively
longperiodrequiredtostartthestandbygenerator.

Backup standby generators (photo credit: dchuddle.com)

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ActiveorParallelRedundancy
Inactiveorparallelredundancy,allredundantunitsareoperatingsimultaneouslyratherthan
beingswitchedonwhenneeded.Themostobviousapproachistousetwocomponents,each

capableofcarryingthefullload,sothatifoneshouldfailtheotherwilltakeoverthisisreferred
toas1+1redundancy.

Analternativeapproachistosplittheloadamonganumberofunits,eachcapable
ofcarryingonlyafractionoftheload,andprovidejustoneadditionalredundantunit
thisisreferredtoasN+1redundancy.Forverycriticalloads,morethanonefullyrated
redundantunitmaybeprovided.

Forexample,a1+2redundancyschemewouldhavetwofullyratedredundantunitssupporting
thesingleoperatingunitandwouldrequireallthreeunitstofailbeforethesystemfails.Because
thereisnointerruption,activeredundancyissuitableforcomputerinstallations.
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N+1and1+1Redundancy
Thetheoryofredundancyisthatshouldacomponentwithinasystemfail,thesystemwill
continuetofunctionbecausealternativepathsareavailableforthesystemtooperate.
InFigure1thesystemwillfunctionwitheitherA1orA2operating.ShouldcomponentA1fail,the
systemwillcontinuetofunction.Thistypeofredundancyistermed1+1,asthereis100%
redundancyavailable.
Figure 1 1+1 Redundancy

InthesystemshowninFigure2twooutofthethreecomponentsarerequiredforthesystem
tofunctionandthereisoneredundantcomponent.Inthisscenario,thesystemwouldbe
called2+1.Ineachcase,thefirstnumberreferstothenumberofcomponentsrequiredforthe
systemtofunctioncorrectlyandthesecondnumberreferstothenumberofstandby
componentsavailable.
Figure 2 N+1 Redundancy

Itispossibletohavemanyredundantcomponentsthatwouldsignificantlyimprovethereliabilityof
thesystem.However,thiswouldalsobeexpensiveandinmostapplicationsabalanceis
achievedbetweenreliabilityandeconomics.

Figure 3 Examples of redundancy of power distribution system

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Loadtestinga500kVAgenerator(VIDEO)

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Reference//AGoodPracticeGuidetoElectricalDesignCopperDevelopmentAssociation