UPS is an acronym that stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply. Basically, it is a device that protects electronic gear in the event of a power outage by providing uninterrupted power from on-board batteries if the power were to shut down unexpectedly.
Have you ever been working on your computer, only to lose power and lose everything you were working on? Well, this can be incredibly frustrating, but imagine what it would be like if this happened on a massive scale?
What if the computers that were being used for mass communication (for example, cell phone company computers) lost power and had to stop providing service to everyone? An incident like this would be incredibly chaotic, which is why UPS systems are very helpful as a backup source of uninterrupted power in the event of a power outage.
UPS battery backup systems differ from auxiliary power systems or generators in two major ways. First of all, they can kick in almost automatically, often allowing no interruption in the power whatsoever. This will not reboot the computers, but rather, will allow for the operators to run auxiliary power or to hook up to a generator without ever completely losing power. This will help to save data that would have been lost in the event of a “blink” in the power.
Second, UPS battery backup systems do not usually last more than 5-15 minutes. They run on batteries, and are not a long term solution to power failure. They simply give the operator a short time of uninterrupted emergency power in which the operator can hook up to a generator, or at least save work and shut down properly.
USP battery backup systems are commonly used on data centers, computers, and also telecommunication equipment. Some are so small that they will only run a single computer, while other UPS battery backup systems are big enough to run an entire data center or even a city!
Of course, the downside here is the cost. The bigger the UPS battery backup system is, the more it is going to cost, which is why it can be hard for cities and even companies to afford them on a mass scale.
There are three categories when it comes to UPS battery systems; there are on-line systems, line-interactive systems, and standby systems. All of them function a little bit differently, but they all pretty much do the same thing in the way that they provide uninterrupted power in times when the main power is cut off.
Since there are a lot of things that can affect grid power, it is important that you have a plan for protecting your computer from an interruption in the electricity. Ice storms, for example, can cause light poles to break in half and cause power failure, and severe winds can blow power lines right over.
Sometimes a power outage does not even last for one minute, but this is definitely enough time to ruin your computer work if you do not have a UPS battery backup attached.