How is your utility bill? Is it shrinking or, like mine, almost non-existent? As we become more digitally integrated at work and especially at home, the power grid is becoming heavily taxed for use it was not originally designed to handle. Have you ever experienced rolling blackouts where your municipality had to choose who had electric power and when?
The investment by the public sector will be significant and take years to complete, but you need power now. Power to keep your food from spoiling, operating a well pump, keeping the lights on, and internal climate-controlled comfort are some necessities
and niceties we do not want to sacrifice due to poor infrastructure planning and financing. What can we do?
Our Sun is the greatest power supply this world will ever have. I harness more power than I need with my solar system, but even that needs a battery bank to provide a top uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Smooth-start switching gear, with a smart monitor and management system, can make solar an intelligent choice for all applications.
We have been using UPS systems since 1934. Did you know they were that old? Massive commercial and industrial UPS rooms use liquid NiCd batteries due to longevity in cycles and ability to push high volume power when needed during public or generator supply interruption. Back in 1934, they wanted 20-90 seconds of interruption supply. How long was your most recent power cut? I will wager it was longer than 90 seconds.
All your work or information at home or the office could be lost during this time. Most industrial machinery has on-board capacitors or batteries to retain programming codes. Likewise, so do our laptops and tablets. The UPS we are most familiar with is the heavy little battery packs we plug desktop computers into.
These simple packs contain inverters to change the supply from the 12-volt batteries to the 230 volts our equipment is designed to operate on. They take in 230V alternating current (AC), convert and store it at 12V direct current (DC), then change it back to 230V AC when in use. There is a lot happening in the little package, and if you know about Ohm's Law, there are dangers when dealing with all these changes.
Heat is the major factor of concern. Those massive industrial UPS rooms, server rooms, and solar battery cabinets need effective cooling. Failure to cool will result in fire of the worst kind, electrical fire. The internal shorting of battery plates is caused by high heat, which warps the plates beyond the small internal plate gaps. Similar to touching both of your car battery poles with a conductive material, this causes rapid discharge so powerful that it can generate a local bolt of lightning.
When safety is involved, we can expect standards, regulations, and laws for everyone's protection. Whether you are trying to keep from losing your efforts on your home PC or keep the factory operating, UPS systems and power storage will only increase in usage and advancement. Read and heed these standards for your safety.
