When a piece of equipment or technology that’s designed to perform a certain task or supply role switches off while it’s supposed to be functioning, or fails, it’s either damaged, or its power source has malfunctioned or been unexpectedly interrupted. These moments can be frustrating and can make you wish you had invested in uninterrupted power supplies.
Decades of Reliable Service
Electricity is by far the most commonly used power resource, which is provided via a national electricity grid by Eskom, the principal South African national electricity supplier since its founding in 1923. For many decades since its inception, Eskom was a solvent concern, the source of reliable, virtually uninterrupted power supplies, except during the odd unforeseen incident caused by equipment failure or a natural event.
It must be said that the demand for electricity was far less in the earlier days before almost all towns, settlements and outlying households were electrified. Progress, expansion, population growth, the adoption of modern farming and agricultural processes and methods, mining, and the establishment of new industries and residential developments all played a significant role in increasing the demand for mains electricity supplies.
Unfortunately, uninterrupted, reliable electrical power supplies are not always available and the situation is exacerbated by the failure to perform regular maintenance on electricity-generating equipment and plants.
So, What’s the Solution?
When it became clear that this situation would prevail in the foreseeable future, many industries, businesses, and homeowners took action to ensure that they could continue their normal activities. They acquired diesel or petrol generators to provide an alternative source of electricity and these became a popular solution to the country’s sometimes intermittent electricity supply dilemma.
There is, however, a “but”. When there’s a mains electricity outage, the generator is switched on – automatically or manually. Obviously, automatic activation tops a manual action, and is essential in non-residential applications that rely on an uninterrupted supply of electricity, without which irretrievable losses may occur, but despite automated generator activation, a tiny time gap occurs between the exchange of electricity sources, thereby creating an interruption.
Incorporating UPS Technology
The interruption may be miniscule, but is nevertheless significant in various applications. The next solution addresses the “but” by incorporating uninterrupted power supply (UPS) technology, which effectively bridges that gap. In so doing, uninterrupted power supplies ensure that power remains constant and uninterrupted during switch-over to and from both sources for the duration of mains electricity outages.
UPS units feature a battery, which is charged and topped up via Eskom mains while the provider is able to furnish its customers with electricity. The electrical current supplied to consumers is in alternating current (AC) form, which must be converted to direct current (DC) form to charge the UPS battery. This is accomplished by an inverter, an essential component of uninterrupted power supplies.
By utilising UPS technology, your electricity supply continues uninterrupted, because it is always available from the charged battery, which also allows for seamless transition and switching between the two electricity-generating sources – Eskom mains or the UPS and its battery.
As a result, any and every change in mains current flow is detected, so even the smallest time lapse or potential gap in the constant electrical current stream is pre-empted and avoided. It’s business as usual for the electricity-consuming appliance, device, and process, thanks to the use of a UPS unit, which is recommended, installed, and commissioned by a South African leader in power solutions – the PacB Group.
At PacB, we proudly and confidently distribute MAKELSAN UPS single and three phase products, ranging between really small 1 kVA right up to and including 800 kVA models. 1 kVA – 10 kVA units are single phase, whilst units larger than 10 kVA utilise three phase technology.
All the uninterrupted power supplies that we offer at PacB Group are neutral and short-circuit protected, because such protection is crucially important to safeguard the integrity and safety of your valuable equipment, and its essential functions and attributes. Our confidence in and experience of MAKELSAN UPS indicates that virtually any problems that clients may encounter, can be resolved telephonically. Keep the current flowing with PacB.
Our qualified technicians offer support and advice in the selection of the right power solution for your needs by calculating your power requirements.