06/04/2020 UPS Battery Sizing

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UPS Battery Sizing 

By Steven McFadyen (/user-profile/userid/3)on April 8th, 2012

Various techniques exist to enable the correct selection of batteries for UPS applications. The procedure described below is
one of the more common. It is also possible to use the IEEE 485 method (see link at the bottom of the page). DIN Rail Power Supplies

Available from 10W to

Contents [hide] 960W, and 5V to 48V
1. Battery Types output. Contact us now.
2. Battery Sizing
1. Watts per cell method
2. How to Calculate Motor Starting Time
3. (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/107/how-to-
4. Amperes per cell calculate-motor-starting-time)
3. Battery Charger Sizing Request to look at induction motor starting time have come
4. See Also up a few times on the site. Hopefully in this post, I give you
guys some idea on how to calculate...

Voltage Drop in Installations - Concepts

Battery Types (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/87/voltage-drop
in-installations-concepts)
Typically the following battery types are used in UPS systems: Problems on achieving maximum voltage drop within an
installation come up often. Depending where you live, local
Lead Acid/Plante Battery regulations will have different limits...
Lead Acid/Antimony Battery
Lead Acid/Calcium Battery UPS Sizing - Rules of Thumb
Lead Acid/Calcium, Maintenance-free Liquid Electrolyte Battery (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/16/ups-sizing-
Lead Acid/Calcium, Maintenance-free Gelled Electrolyte, Sealed Battery rules-of-thumb)
It wasn't so long ago I was telling someone that I don't use
DIN Rail Power Supplies rules of thumb as most things are easily calculated
anyhow. As it turns out I last week...
Ad Available from 10W to 960W, and
Ad
5V to 48V output. Contact us now. Cold Fusion (or not?)
Accutronics (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/68/cold-fusion-
or-not)
Open Recently I have seen a few interesting articles on viable
cold fusion; the combining of atoms at room like
Lead Acid (Special Alloy), Suspended Electrolyte, Maintenance-free, Sealed Battery temperatures to create boundless energy. Now...
Nickel Cadmium, Pocket Plate Liquid Electrolyte Battery
What is a rectifier transformer?
(https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/121/what-is-a-
Battery Sizing rectifier-transformer)
I've recently come across this question a couple times
browsing the internet. Decided to give a quick answer here
Example of UPS battery sizing
A rectifier transformer is a transformer...

Select the battery model number and quantity (using the typical watts per cell table) for a 300 kVA UPS, 94% efficiency,
What is an Open Delta Transformer
power factor of 0.8, for a backup time of 15 minutes.
(https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/254/what-is-an-
open-delta-transformer)
The UPS battery bus voltage is 480 V. The typical table is for 12 V batteries (six cells of 2 V each).

Quantity of batteries per bank = 480/12 = 40 batteries

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06/04/2020 UPS Battery Sizing

Number of cells per bank = 40 x 6 = 240 cells In three phase systems, the use of transformers with three
windings (or legs) per side is common. These three
windings are often connected in delta or...

DC Motor Operation
(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-Sizing_E56B/image42_2.png)
(https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/153/dc-motor-
operation)
Looking at the capacity, we see that the required watt/cell is too much for one bank. However, various options are
Coils of wire on the rotor carry a d.c. current which
available, for example if we decided to use three banks in parallel:
generates a magnetic field. A stator magnetic field is
created using either permanent magnets or...
watt/cell (three banks in parallel) = 1063/3 = 354
- select a S12V370(F) battery
Large Hadron Collider
(https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/39/the-big-bang
Total number of batteries required
The 27 km, Euro 6 billion Collider lies on the border
= 40 (per bank) x 3 (banks) = 120
between France and Switzerland, took nearly 30 years to
complete. Some of the lofty goals for the...

Manufacturers provide sizing information for their batteries. Generally this information assumes a room temperature of 25oC.
Power Transformers - An Introduction
Batteries which will be operated at different temperatures continuously should be calculated specifically for that temperature.
(https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/199/power-
transformers-an-introduction)
Batteries are generally sized using [Watts] per cell or on [Ampere] per cell.
One of the fundamental requirements of an alternating
current distribution systems it to have the ability to change
Watts per cell method the magnitude of voltages. It is more...

Normally information supplied for lead acid batteries designed for short discharge times (5-120 minutes) is in the form of How to measure power supply quality
kilowatts per cell tabulated for various back-up times. The required [Watts] per cell are given by: (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/105/how-to-
measure-power-supply-quality)
If your are ever called out to troubleshoot something on you
electrical system, one of the first things consider is the
supply voltage. You want to ensure...

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-
Sizing_E56B/Image%20%5B4%5D_4.png)

Where:
VA = VA of the load
pf = power factor
η = efficiency of the UPS
N = Number of cells
Al = any addition load connected to the batteries (in VA)

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/WindowsLiveWriter/UPSBatterySizing_DDD4/0830_BatteryWatts_2_2.jpg)
Typical Performance Specification (Amperes per Cell @25 °C)

Amperes per cell

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06/04/2020 UPS Battery Sizing

Average Battery Voltage

Battery voltage varies in use - staring high and then decreasing to it's end of discharge voltage. Taking into account
this variation, makes calculation more complicated.

More often, an average voltage value is taken and calculations based on this.

If unsure about what the average value to use, then the end of discharge voltage could be used (as this is on the safe
side).

Long term discharge lead acid batteries and most nickel cadmium batteries are sized using charts expressed in available
amps for specified periods of time. The required [Amperes] per cell is:

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-
Sizing_E56B/image38_2.png)

Where:
VA = VA of the load
pf = power factor
η = efficiency of the UPS inverter (dc to ac)
Vdc = Average Discharge Voltage
Al = any addition load connected to the batteries (in A)

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/WindowsLiveWriter/UPSBatterySizing_DDD4/2474_BatteryAmps_2_2.jpg)
Typical Performance Specification (Amperes per Cell @25 °C)

Battery Charger Sizing

In general, a short term discharge battery can be recharged to 85% capacity in 8-10 times the discharge time. A long term
discharge battery can be recharged to 85% capacity in a minimum of 8 hours provided the charger is sized properly.

Assuming the UPS is float charging, the following charging current Ic is required:

Given:

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-Sizing_E56B/image40_2.png)
and

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-Sizing_E56B/image41_2.png)

(http://myelectrical.com/Portals/0/SunBlogNuke/2/Windows-Live-Writer/UPS-Battery-Sizing_E56B/image39_2.png)

Where:
Ic = Charging current
IB = Battery current required
Td = Battery discharge (run) time

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06/04/2020 UPS Battery Sizing

k = Safety factor (typically 1.5)

Tr = Battery recharge time
Ii = Inverter current required
Ia = Any additional load in (A)

See Also
IEEE 485 Battery Sizing (http://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/163/battery-sizing)

Batteries (https://myelectrical.com/notes/tag/batteries), UPS (https://myelectrical.com/notes/tag/ups), Equipment Sizing

(https://myelectrical.com/notes?tag=equipment+sizing), Equipment (https://myelectrical.com/notes/tag/equipment), Lead
Acid (https://myelectrical.com/notes?tag=lead+acid)

More interesting Notes:

Batteries (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/165/batteries)
Battery Sizing (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/163/battery-sizing)
UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/227/ups-uninterruptible-power-supply)
Cable Sizing Tool (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/182/cable-sizing-tool)
Lead Acid Batteries (https://myelectrical.com/notes/entryid/116/effect-of-temperature-on-lead-batteries)
Steven McFadyen (/user-profile/userid/3)
Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects.
He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this
knowledge.
About the author(/user-profile/userid/3)

(http://myelectricalengineering.co.uk)

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Jeen Projees • 3 years ago

Hi Mr Steven,

i need one help from you regarding UPS system. [ calculation of battery Ah selection, no of battery ]

We bought 250kva UPS 380/220V , 60HZ , 15 minutes backup.

this ups contain 92 pcs 12V, 92.8Ah battery. can you plz clarify[ by formula] that how they chose 92.

Regards
Jeen
3△ ▽ 1 • Reply • Share ›

Albert Nathan • a year ago • edited

Hi Mr Steven, need your help to calculate backup time for Modular UPS system as info below:-
UPS Capacity: 90kva,

Load Capacity: 30kva,

Battery used: 12V 7Ah x 32 no's x 8 strings,

Run time unit detects: 41 mins.

I cant find way to get the run time calculation based on above info's. I mean how the unit shows run
advance.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

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