The PowerWAVE 9500DPA

MODERN SOCIETY is built on a foundation of data, with data centres becoming the lifeblood of health authorities, banks, government departments, retail outlets and almost every other entity that touches our lives.

A reliable UPS will guarantee this essential flow of continuous, clean power to the data centre and other IT facilities, no matter what happens to the power supply. No critical data centre operates without an effective UPS and increasingly, even non-critical loads are relying on UPS systems to maximise availability and ensure a true no-break solution. So reliant have we become on data that ‘zero downtime’ is now often an essential aspect of data centre operation. To attain this level of security, a continuous supply of clean power must be guaranteed, of which the UPS is a key component.
UPS Ltd’s latest uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, the PowerWAVE 9500DPA, has been designed from the ground up, specifically to guarantee that data is available 24/7. UPS Ltd, a Kohler company, is a world leader in UPS technology and has a range of high-efficiency UPS products that cover the full breadth of applications, including data centres of all sizes.

Because UPS reliability and zero downtime are so crucial, these features have been made cornerstones of UPS Ltd’s UPS design philosophy. Furthermore, because data centres now consume more energy than some major industries, data centre operators greet the significant reduction in energy bills achieved through high efficiency UPS systems with open arms.

UPS Ltd’s newest UPS offering continues this tradition. With its standardised modular approach, low power consumption and high reliability, the PowerWAVE 9500DPA provides an ideal UPS solution for all types of data centres from 100 kW up to 3 MW.

The decentralised parallel architecture (DPA™), upon which the PowerWAVE 9500DPA is based, refers to each 100 kW UPS module containing the hardware and software required for full system operation. The modules share no common components, with each module containing its own independent static bypass, rectifier, inverter, logic control, control panel, battery charger and batteries. With all the critical components duplicated and distributed between individual units, potential single points of failure are eliminated. In the unlikely event that one UPS module does encounter a problem, the overall system will continue to operate normally, but with one less module of capacity. The failed module will be fully disconnected and will not impact the remaining operating modules.

This modular approach means you can size the UPS to exactly fit your needs and simply add modules as your requirements grow. Adding capacity is easy: five 100 kW modules can be mounted in one frame and six frames can be configured in parallel to provide a top rating of 3 MW. The PowerWAVE 9500DPA is the only modular UPS on the market that can easily add increments in this way. The resulting savings in power usage over the service life of the UPS are substantial, and can reach ten of thousands of pounds. A further advantage is that the modular approach makes it easy to add redundancy and to further augment availability and reliability.

The PowerWAVE 9500DPA modules are truly ‘hot-swappable’, meaning they can be removed or inserted without risk to the critical load and without the need to power down or transfer to raw main supply. This unique feature directly addresses continuous uptime requirements, significantly reduces mean time to repair (MTTR, reduces inventory levels of specialized spare parts and simplifies system upgrades.

This approach also pays dividends when it comes to serviceability and availability – swapping of online modules means you don’t have to switch off during replacement, so there is no downtime. This all leads to better risk management and an affordable, yet efficient, aftersales service, hence the lowest total cost of ownership in its  class. Installation is as easy as servicing: The straightforward concept of the PowerWAVE 9500DPA simplifies every step of the deployment process – from planning, through installation and commissioning to full use. This hot-swap technology, along with significant reductions in repair time, can help achieve so-called six nines (99.9999 per cent) availability – highly desirable for data centres in pursuit of zero downtime.

The PowerWAVE 9500DPA has a very low cost of ownership, partly because of the aforementioned modularity and scalability, but also because of its best-in-class energy efficiency. UPS Ltd’s PowerWAVE 9500DPA operates with an efficiency of up to 96% or greater than 99% in Eco Mode. Its efficiency curve is very flat so there are significant savings in every working regime. This gives this particular product the lowest total cost of ownership of any comparable UPS system.

Further, cooling costs in data centres are substantial. Because it consumes less power, the PowerWAVE 9500DPA requires less cooling effort, generating further savings. It also has a compact footprint – ideal for data centres, where real estate can be limited and expensive.

Standardisation and modularisation have revolutionised the design of power back-up systems for data centres. Gone are the days of traditional, monolithic UPS. Today, power systems for applications large and small can be built by using the same pre-designed, pre-manufactured and pretested sub-systems as building blocks. Standardising UPS systems to serve load segments of different sizes is now a reality.

The benefits are clear: faster implementation, flexibility, scalability and controlled capital spending. Standardisation also enables the use of ready-made interfaces and management modules and simplifies integration with other data centre systems, such as UPS Ltd’s data centre monitoring software.

Data centres of different sizes or in different phases can now apply one standard product. The PowerWAVE 9500DPA opens this new door because it not only provides load protection for data centres up to 1 MW, but it allows easy expansion to a much higher rating (up to 3 MW). And all by adding standardised additional modules. Standardisation and modularity will drive new UPS designs and we will see further refinement of the decentralised parallel architecture, higher maximum power ratings and even more energy-efficient solutions.

For further information about the PowerWAVE 9500DPA, please visit www.upspower.co.uk or call +44 (0)1256 386700.