What Is An Uninterruptible Power Supply And What Is It For?
Power, we are all reliant upon it whether we know it or not
. Most of the devices that we utilise on a daily basis are in some way powered by electricity. Our kettles that help us to make a cup of tea, our televisions which help to provide us with entertainment, the lights around the house that help to illuminate the surroundings at night time so we can all see where we are going and the fridge that helps to keep food and drinks cool in through the day. All of these devices run through the aid of electricity, but what happens if you have a device that needs power 100% of the time?
When you are in a situation where you might need a constant power supply, you can now obtain devices called UPS's which stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. An Uninterruptible power supply is basically a large, heavy duty battery which is connected to the back of the device in question. When the power is on the battery is of the UPS charges up until fully charged and then maintains this level of charge. If for some reason the power supply to the device becomes damage or fails then the uninterruptible power supply will kick in and ensure that there is no downtime for the product.
Of course there are some drawbacks to having an uninterruptible power supply. Obviously it is only intended to be used as a temporary backup and generally the devices will only have up to four hours of power once the UPS has kicked in. However, power glitches are normally quite rare and in most cases any power outages are dealt with within the four hour time frame that the UPS is in use.
Uninterruptible power supplies are generally utilised within the computer industry to ensure that important customer facing server's maintain the company's commitment to 100% uptime. However, there have been other companies who have utilised the power of an uninterruptible power supply.
One of the main examples of this is amusement parks who need to ensure the safety of their customers in the event of a power cut. The last thing you would want in the event of a power cut is to be stranded upside down for 45 minutes while they wait for the power to be turned back on. With a UPS the companies can safety and slowly return their clients to the start of the ride and release them.