1/22/22, 3:11 PM How to calculate the required UPS capacity?

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How to calculate the required UPS capacity?

 November 9, 2020
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Measured in “watts”, UPS capacity is an important factor to consider when choosing a UPS
(uninterruptible power supply). It determines how many electronic devices the UPS system
can support. This post will tell you how to choose the right UPS with required UPS capacity
in the following four steps.

Clarify UPS Measurement Units

UPS systems are rated either in kilowatts (kW) or in kilo-volt-amperes (kVA). They can be
regarded as the same in number. For example, in a direct current (DC) circuit, watts =
volts x amps. In other words, 1 kW = 1 kVA.

However, they are not equal when the uninterruptible power supply system uses AC
(alternating current). Normally, AC powers buildings and equipment in a more efficient
way. Therefore, data centers usually use AC UPS power supplies. However, when hitting
the transformer of the device, AC will exhibit reactive characteristics, which reduces the
available power (watts) in apparent power (volt-amperes). The ratio of these two numbers
is called the power factor (PF). Therefore, in AC circuits, watts = volts x amps x power
factor. Power factors differ from each other in different scenarios. For example, large UPS
systems are designed based on a power factor of 0.8, which means that a 100 kVA UPS
can only support 80 kW of real power.

Reactance reduces the useable power (watts) that is available from the apparent power
(volt-amperes). The ratio of these two numbers is called the power factor (PF). Therefore,
the actual power formula for AC circuits is watts = volts x amps x power factor.
Unfortunately, the PF is rarely stated for most equipment, but it is always a number of 1.0
or less, and about the only thing with a 1.0 PF is a lightbulb.

Calculate the Maximum UPS Load

The load is the combined amount of power that electrical devices will consume. To calculate
the load, one should make an equipment list, which includes the total watts each piece of
equipment requires to run properly. For example, if you want to run a 120W PC, a 30W
VPN router, a 960W server, two 280W network switches and a 480W storage device at the
same time, the total load required is 2150 W.

Estimate the required UPS capacity

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1/22/22, 3:11 PM How to calculate the required UPS capacity?
Affected by power factors, the UPS is generally operated at about 80% of the actual rated
capacity since the general PF is 0.8. That is to say, one only runs the uninterruptible power
supply system around 80% of the capacity to support the load calculated. For example, if
the total required capacity/load is 200 W, it is better to choose an UPS with a capacity of
250 W (250 W x 0.8 = 200 W) or so.

Take, for example, a 100 kVA UPS with a 0.9 PF, or 90 kW capacity. If Phase A is loaded to
95%, Phase B to 60% and Phase C to only 25%, the UPS will still have 40 kVA, or 36 kW,
unused. That’s 40% of its capacity remaining, despite the 95% reading.

Nameplate data on UPS systems

The biggest problem when figuring UPS unit sizing is determining their actual load. Many
data hardware manufacturers still provide inadequate or misleading power data on their
equipment. Bigger manufacturers are usually linked to or have a configurator on their
websites. These tend to give quite accurate information if used correctly. But no tool can
give you accurate total load estimation; it’s up to you to develop realistic numbers.

Beware of using the nameplate. This is a legality rating and will usually give a much higher
volt-ampere rating than the unit will ever draw. For example, consider a unit with a
nameplate that reads 90 to 240 volts at 4 to 8 amps with a 500 W power supply. In the
nameplate reading, the numbers are backward. The larger amperage goes with the lower
voltage. If you assume a nominal 120 volts at 8 amps, you get 960 VA. A PF of 0.95 would
yield 912 W. No power supply is that inefficient, and a power supply almost never runs at
full power. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that this device will ever draw more than 500 W
of power, but if you want to be really conservative, multiply by 1.1 and figure 550 W of
input power.

Don’t get trapped by dual-corded equipment. The power supplies share the load and either
one is supposed to be able to carry the full load. Therefore, a unit with two 500 W supplies
should still be figured as if it had only one.

Should choose an UPS directly with estimated UPS

capacity?
One may think that it is feasible to choose an UPS directly according to the estimated UPS
capacity. Actually, it is not recommended to select the corresponding UPS based solely on
the estimated UPS capacity. In addition to the estimated UPS capacity, two main factors,
wiggle room and UPS runtime, should be taken into consideration.

Wiggle Room
There would be no wiggle room at all if one bought a 1kVA UPS with a 900W UPS capacity
(PF = 0.9) to support a calculated load of 900W. Under such circumstances, the whole
system would be run at 100% capacity. Actually, regardless of how the PF ratings are
stated (even if the PF is 1), a 100 kVA UPS will never support an actual full 100 kW load in
the real world of the data center. It won’t be run at 100% capacity.

Since large UPS systems are three-phase, here let’s take a 100kVA UPS in a three-phase
system with a 0.9 PF (90 kW capacity) as an example. Just as the table shows below, if
Phase A is loaded to 95%, Phase B to 60% and Phase C to only 25%, the UPS will still have
40 kVA, or 36 kW, unused. Therefore, if the actual load required is 90 kW (100 kVA), a
90kW (100kVA) UPS is not recommended since it only offers an actual load of 54 kW (60
kVA). If one needs a full 900W load, it would be wise to get a 2kVA system to run it at
50% load capacity.

UPS Runtime
The actual UPS capacity required may also be affected by the UPS runtime in situations
where more time for devices running is needed. For example, if the devices needed to You be May Like
connected are on different floors or in offsite locations, the UPS must offer more time to
keep the devices running. Otherwise, any failure caused by network downtime may result
You should
in immeasurable loss. Normally, there will be more runtime if the actual UPS capacity is
much bigger than the required load. Imagine if a 1kVA/900W UPS offers 11 minutes of know the ups
runtime at 100% load (900 W), one could use a 2kVA/1800W UPS from the same technical
manufacturer running at 50% load (900 W) to get 24 minutes of runtime. glossary
10 Aug 2020  1

How do you calculate the UPS backup time How to select

Your industrial
List all equipment to be protected by the UPS. (Remember to include monitors, external
uninterruptible
hard drives, routers, etc.)
power supply UPS
List the amps and volts for each device. These ratings can typically be found on the label
26 Apr 2020

on the back of the equipment. Multiply amps by volts to determine Volt-Amps(VA), divide
How a ups
the watts by power factors. For servers, the power factory is often 0.9 or 1. power supply
Multiply the VA by the number of pieces of equipment to get the VA subtotals. works with a
Add the VA subtotals together. backup generator Privacy - Terms

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1/22/22, 3:11 PM How to calculate the required UPS capacity?

Multiply the total by 1.2 to get the grand total. This step accounts for future expansion.
19 Jan 2022 1

Use the grand total to select a UPS. When choosing a UPS, be sure that the total VA How does an
requirement of supported equipment does exceed the VA rating of the UPS. uninterruptible
power supply
work?
08 Nov 2019

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effective ways
to maximise
your UPS energy
efficiency
18 Sep 2020

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