A UPS system is the central building block of a Power Continuity Plan in medical facilities, but such equipment requires careful maintenance to continue fulfilling its vital role in delivering power resilience, and avoid catastrophic downtime, and potentially tens of thousands of pounds in costs to rectify the issues caused by poor maintenance.
In our latest technical guidance article, Steve Mason, MD at Bender UK, one of the leading providers of isolated power supplies, theatre control panels, UPS systems, and Steris surgical products, and a turnkey provider of solutions for safe handling of electrical power and advanced provision of critical care products, examines some of the issue surrounding UPS maintenance.
The sophistication and complexity of a Power Continuity Plan will depend upon the business/clinical risk assessment, the level of resilience required, the size of loads to protect, future expansion, and the budget available. In terms of resilience, a Power Continuity Plan is concerned with the use of multiple power paths to ensure AC supply continuity even during maintenance, the ability of the power protection systems to clear fault conditions, and achievement of the lowest possible number of single points-of-failure. A UPS (Uninterruptible Power System) is the primary building block around which the plan is designed. Dual input supplies and static transfer switches are not considered viable options for this role, but can provide useful support functions to improve overall system design. A number of UPS configurations are available, including single, parallel, and series redundant systems – each offering a different level of resilience, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), and availability.
UPS failure curve
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