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UPS & Battery Chargers: Operation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting - A

technical report and a short course

Technical Report · February 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21705.03684

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 UPS & Battery Chargers:
Operation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
A technical report and a short course
By
Prof. Dr. Mohamed EL-Shimy Mahmoud
(http://shimymb.tripod.com)

OVERVIEW
The power supply systems must provide maximum reliability and power quality
while its costs are to be minimized. These requirements present a major design, operation,
and maintenance challenges due to the dilemma between supply improvements and the
associated investments. Therefore, the design, operation, and maintenance of power supply
systems are usually a compromise between the reliability and quality of supply from one
side and the required investments from the other side. The main impacts of power
interruptions and low power quality are the costs and safety associated with them.
Therefore, electrical loads are classified according to the impacts of interrupting their
power supply; loads are classified to non-essential, essential, and critical. The impact of
power interruptions on non-essential loads are minor while interruptions have a significant
impact on the essential loads, especially if the interruption duration is above a specific
threshold value. Critical loads are a class of the loads that should not be interrupted under
any circumstances. The hazards, and costs associated with interrupting critical loads are
usually intolerable even if the interruption duration is very small.
For essential and critical loads an alternative safe supply must be available for
providing the required reliability and power quality levels. The Unintteruptable Power
Supply (UPS) is a main tool for providing safe power supply for these load classes. UPSs
have many designs, operation, and control algorithms. The main differences UPS categories
are the power capacity, switching time, safe duration, maintenance requirements, available
system monitoring, self-diagnosis, and costs. For safe durations from minutes to – for
example – an hour, static UPSs are the ideal safe supply alternative while in longer
durations electromechanical UPSs provide an economically feasible alternative supply.
According to the load requirements and interruption statistics, a justified mix of static and
electromechanical UPSs may be chosen for providing an optimal alternative supply. In all

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cases, the flexibility allowed to deviate from perfect reliability and power quality should be
used to allow designing cheaper and simpler alternative supply systems; however, this
flexibility should not be wasted by permitting poor maintenance and operating procedures
to compromise the reliability and quality.
There are often cases that the alternative supply systems are not well selected, or
incorrectly installed, operated, maintained. In other cases, they do not work properly when
needed and this failure caused losses in term of time, money, and safety. Therefore, this
training course provides and in-depth analysis of supply requirements for various load
classes. In addition, the course surveys various options for providing an adequate supply
system considering the design of the power distribution systems up to UPSs. Choice and
design of system designs and UPSs are carefully covered within the course. Operation,
maintenance, and troubleshooting of various supply alternatives are also considered in this
course and typical case studies and simulations are presented.

OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the course are summarized as follows:
1. Understanding and assessment of power supply reliability and power quality.
2. Defining load classes and assessment of the impacts of poor supply reliability
and quality.
3. Understanding and analysis of the sources, and effects of various power quality
(PQ) disturbances.
4. Analysis and design of various power distribution system configurations and
their relation to power supply reliability and power quality.
5. Configurations of practical UPS systems as well as their characteristics, and
operaion.
6. Selection criteria of UPS systems for providing adequate power supply reliability
and quality considering various load classes.
7. Installing and operating UPS systems.
8. Maintenance requirements and procedures as well as troubleshooting UPS
systems.

OUTLINES:
Module 1: Supply system reliability and power quality
 Course Introduction and Brain storming
 Improving Reliability and Power Quality with Standby Power Supplies

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 o Introduction
o Power supply Reliability
o Classification of Power Quality Disturbances
o Standby power supply alternatives
 Duplicate Feeder from the Grid
 Engine generating sets (EGS)
 Battery storage
 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems
o Energy sources

Module 2: Power Electronics for UPS and Chargers – Fundamentals and Applications
 Introduction
 Main PE energy conversion process
 Power electronic switches and their specifications
 Power electronics as interfaces - applications
 The use of heat sinks
 Future trends of PE

Module 3: UPS configurations and applications

 UPS Configurations for 7 X 24 Continuous Power Facilities
o Separating the Essential and Nonessential Loads
o Special equipment to support continuous operation
o Defining failure in a 7 × 24 facility
o Reliability and availability as tools in evaluation of critical facilities
o Critical distribution system configurations
o Reliability and availability of critical distribution system configurations
 UPS Configurations for 7 X 24 Continuous Power Plants
o Introduction
o Typical configurations of UPS systems for power generating station loads
 Application Considerations
o Charging Methods
o Service Conditions
o Equipment Rating
o Output Ripple
o Output Regulation
o Fusing
o Surge Voltage Withstand Capability

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Module 4: Specifiying UPSs, their selection, and types
 UPS Selection
o Determine the general need for UPSs.
o Determine the purpose of the UPS.
o Determine the power requirements.
o Select the Type of UPS.
o Determine if the safety of the selected UPS is acceptable.
o Determine if the availability of the selected UPS is acceptable.
o Determine if the selected UPS is maintainable.
o Determine if the selected UPS is affordable.
 Static UPS system ratings and size selection
o Determining static UPS system rating.
o Battery sizing
o Computation sheets.
o Static UPS system selection criteria.
 Rotary UPS system ratings and size selection
o Determining rotary UPS system rating.
o Motor and generator ratings.
o Flywheel sizing.
o Rotary UPS system selection criteria.

Module 5: Construction, installation of UPS systems

 Construction and installation of static UPS systems
o Construction features of static systems.
o Installation requirements.
 Construction and installation of rotary UPS systems
o Construction features of rotary systems.
o Installation requirements for rotary systems.
 Power distribution and equipment grounding and shielding requirements
o Power distribution equipment.
o Grounding.
o Computer power centers.
o Shielding.
o Radio frequency interference (RFI).
o Noise and noise reduction methods.

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 Module 6: UPS testing and Maintenance

 Testing and start-up

o Installation inspection.
o Individual component testing.
o Visual and electrical wiring inspections.
o Energizing and test of the UPS system.
o Test forms.
o Troubleshooting - Possible failures and corrective actions.
 Test equipment
o Use of maintenance personnel.
o Use of diagnostics.
o Suggested lists of test equipment and accessories.
 Types of Maintenance
 Maintenance of UPS systems
o Safety.
o Preventive maintenance.
o Corrective maintenance
o Recognizing impending problems.
o Troubleshooting.
o Spare parts availability.
 UPS battery maintenance
o Maintenance costs.
o Maintenance access.
o Preventive maintenance.
o Maintenance procedures.
o Maintaining flooded lead-acid cells.
o Maintenance considerations.
o Maintaining valve-regulated lead-acid cells.
o Ni-cad cells.
o Safety.
 Recommendations for Future Investigations Related to the Course Subjects.

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