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What is Difference between UPS & Inverter

AUGUST 1, 2017 14 COMMENTS (HTTPS://ELECTRICALNOTES.WORDPRESS.COM/2017/08/01/WHAT-IS-DIFFERENCE-BETWEEN-UPS-

INVERTER/#COMMENTS)

Introduction:

We are heavily dependent upon appliances that run on electricity such as fans, lights, AC, fridge, Computer and so on.
Whenever there is a power cut, electricity supply to these appliances is cut off and they stop working. However, if we have backup supply devices such as
UPS and inverter, we can ensure Power supply to appliances and not bothered with power cuts.
However, people remain confused with the difference between a UPS and an inverter because UPS and inverters both are providing back up power
supplies during main power outage.
Inverters are preferred more for general electric appliances whose working does not get affected by extended delays in power supply.
UPS are used for electronics appliances such as computer, servers, workstations, Medical Equipment which perform critical task and cannot tolerate delays
in power supply.
An off-line ups (the standard) switch to the ba eries in 3 to 8 milliseconds, after the main power has been lost. While Inverter changes over in about 500
milliseconds.

UPS:

UPS means uninterrupted power supply.

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides uninterrupted power to the equipment. It means switching time from power cut to ba ery power is vey less
hence important and critical equipment like computer, desktop .Medical Instruments is not switch off and we can lose data.
A UPS is a complete system that is consisting of many parts that include ba eries, a charge controller, circuitry any transfer switch for switching between
the mains and back-up ba ery, and an inverter. An inverter is needed because the ba ery can only store DC power and we need to convert that back to AC
in order to match the appliances connected in the main power line.
UPS= Ba ery charger + Inverter
UPS is nothing but inverter with inbuilt ba ery charger.

UPS give backup only 10 to 20 minutes. The main intention of it is to provide backup only for small time so that you can save the programs and data.
UPS also gives protection against line abnormalities like Surge, Voltage fluctuation, Under Voltage, Over Voltage, Spike, Noise.

Inverter:

Inverter circuit simple converters ba ery DC current to AC and supply

In inverter inverts the direct current to an alternating current. During normal condition electrical supply is direct feed to the Load. It also takes the supply
from the AC source and charges the ba ery.
During the power cut, the inverter receives the supply from the ba ery and convert it DC to AC Power and provides the power supply to the electrical
equipment.
Inverters purpose is to provide power backup to total home appliances, lights, fans.
Inverter uses flat plate or tubular ba ery to store electricity. So it requires continuous maintenance, needs to fill the distilled water toppings at regular
intervals of time.
Inverter does not give protection against line abnormalities

Difference between UPS and Inverter:

Comparison of UPS and Inverter

Descriptions UPS Inverter
UPS means Uninterruptable Power Inverter is a device which
Definition
Supply. converts DC electricity to AC
 It is an electric circuit (device)
which instantly backs up power
supply for a gadget. The gadgets
works continues to work on
Function smoothly and there is no damage to
it.
Inverter consist circuitry which
converts AC to DC and stores in
the ba ery. When power supply
goes off, that DC power is
converted back to AC and is
transmi ed to the respective
electronic gadget.

It first converts AC to DC Power to

charge the ba ery than Convert DC
Power to AC Power (Inverter) and
this AC power is supplied to Load.
Principles However, UPS monitors the input
voltage level and processes it in
terms of voltage regulations.
UPS= Ba ery charger + Inverter
Inverter converts DC power
(stored in its ba ery) to AC Power
supplied to the devices. Normally
AC Power charges the ba ery .It
uses relays and sensors to detect
when to use DC power or AC
Power, for DC power.

Back up Time Power Back up for Short Duration Power Back up for Long Duration
(a) Offline UPS, (b) Online UPS and
(a) Square Wave, (b) Quasi Wave,
(c) Line-interactive UPS.
Types
(c) Sine Wave

Rectifier/charger, Inverter
Main Part Inverter and controller.
,controller
Switch over Time 3 to 8 milliseconds. 500 milliseconds.
While voltage fluctuations in input
supply can be adjusted by the UPS,
the output voltages are desired to
be as smooth as possible.
Inverter does not give protection
Voltage Fluctuations In smoothing the voltage outputs,
against voltage fluctuations
UPS are considered be er as
compared to inverter.

Circuitry UPS circuitry is far more Inverter has Simple circuit then
Sophistication sophisticated than that of inverter’s UPS
UPS more expensive than an
Pricing Inverter is less expensive than UPS
inverter.
UPS are used for electronics
Application such as computer,
Inverters are preferred more for
servers, Network Switches,
general electric Application which
Application workstations, Medical Equipment,
working does not affected by
Processing Equipment which
extended delays in power supply.
perform critical task and cannot
tolerate delays in power supply.
UPS provide protection against
Inverter does not provide
voltage spikes, voltage drops,
Protection protection against Line
instability of the main frequency
abnormalities.
and harmonic distortions
Used sealed maintenance free (SMF)
Ba ery Used flat plate or tubular ba ery
ba ery
Requires continuous maintenance,
needs to fill the distilled water
Ba ery Maintenance Do not require any maintenance.
toppings at regular intervals of
time
More due to constant ba ery
Energy Consumption Less
Charging

Conclusion:

The UPS and inverter both provide the backup supply to the electrical system. Two major differences between the UPS and inverter are that
The switching of UPS from the main supply to the ba ery is very immediate so it is used to provide backup power of important or critical electronics
equipment. whereas in inverter the switching from mains supply to ba ery takes times so it used to provide less important electrical equipment.
The UPS provide protection to the load against Spike, Voltage fluctuation, Noise while Inverter does not provide any protection to the load.

FILED UNDER UNCATEGORIZED

About Jignesh.Parmar
Jignesh Parmar has completed M.Tech (Power System Control), B.E(Electrical). He is member of Institution of Engineers (MIE) and CEng,India. Membership
No:M-1473586.He has more than 16 years experience in Transmission -Distribution-Electrical Energy theft detection-Electrical Maintenance-Electrical Projects
(Planning-Designing-Technical Review-coordination -Execution). He is Presently associate with one of the leading business group as a Deputy Manager at
Ahmedabad,India. He has published numbers of Technical Articles in “Electrical Mirror”, “Electrical India”, “Lighting India”,”Smart Energy”, “Industrial
Electrix”(Australian Power Publications) Magazines. He is Freelancer Programmer of Advance Excel and design useful Excel base Electrical Programs as per
IS, NEC, IEC,IEEE codes. He is Technical Blogger and Familiar with English, Hindi, Gujarati, French languages. He wants to Share his experience &
Knowledge and help technical enthusiasts to find suitable solutions and updating themselves on various Engineering Topics.

14 Responses to What is Difference between UPS & Inverter

Prabhanshu says:
August 1, 2017 at 3:10 pm
Your article related UPS & Inverter is very important for me. Thanks for sharing your article.

Reply
Habibur Rahman says:
August 1, 2017 at 5:46 pm
nice post. if it possible then please post about Electrical Home uses Gang switch and socket in details technical specification and Electrical FAN in details
technical specification. mass details

Reply
mohamad says:
August 1, 2017 at 10:07 pm
thanks for the nice subject

Reply
Muhammad Awais Manzoor says:
August 2, 2017 at 4:10 am
sir i confused in back e.m.f of generator and motors so plz give me a concept …thnxxx

Reply
AUNG SOE says:
August 2, 2017 at 7:26 am
thanks,we got lot of knowledge.

Reply
subhashini M. reddy says:
August 2, 2017 at 9:20 am
the article was very informative. thank you very much Jignesh sir. looking for more such articles sir.

Reply
muhammed kabir isa says:
August 2, 2017 at 10:07 am
A very comprehensive explanation and educative.

Reply
Su Mon Myint says:
August 11, 2017 at 2:40 pm
Dear Sir!
Could u explain me Current transformer saturation?

Reply
Ajoy says:
August 11, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Nicely explained article, I have one query…Hope you will help,
Presently we are having an online UPS of 6 KVA..
Its ba ery bank consists of 20 numbers of 12V, 26 AH ba eries..
We have measured the load current on ups output , its 4 Amperes and at present it is giving us a backup time of approx 4 hours..
Now..we want to increase the backup time of the UPS. My query is upto what ba ery size (in terms of AH hours) is suitable so that we can have a backup
time for 8 hours?

Reply
Gopal K says:
August 15, 2017 at 3:36 am
Sir,
I am a big fan of you and read your articles with great interest
My comment: ups maintains frequency level within the prescribed band. For input frequency too,if it falls out of pre fixed range it will go to by pass mode.
I once again highly appreciate your articles.
Thank you.

Reply
poonam says:
August 28, 2017 at 8:33 am
It’s actually a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this.
Thank you for sharing.
 Reply
deepika says:
September 11, 2017 at 9:27 am
It’s actually a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this.
Thank you for sharing.

Reply
Navnath Thikekar says:
March 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm
Dear informer,

thanks for providing important info.

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 8:28 PM, Electrical Notes & Articles wrote:

> Jignesh.Parmar posted: “Introduction: We are heavily dependent upon > appliances that run on electricity such as fans, lights, AC, fridge, > Computer
and so on. Whenever there is a power cut, electricity supply to > these appliances is cut off and they stop working. However, i” >

Reply
HERI says:
April 13, 2018 at 2:56 am
Thanks for information all electrician

Reply

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