European manufacturer of high efficiency, 1kVA – 6.4MVA Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) systems, Borri, has become the first to really challenge and break through the infamous efficiency glass ceiling. The company’s managing director, Ian Tucker, believes this remarkable achievement is the product of strong customer influence and the compelling demand for more efficient operations. He explains why to Electrical Review.
It is undeniable that the primary role of a UPS is, and always has been, to provide reliable back-up power protection and where traditionally this was the sole requirement of a UPS system, the unpredictable economic climate and the stark rise in energy prices has seen customer priorities shift towards selecting more efficient and flexible products.
Whilst these customer expectations have placed a huge amount of pressure on UPS manufacturers, they have also provided the industry with some interesting and challenging development goals.
It is this customer influence, which has formed the catalyst of one of our greatest achievements to date – developing The Primacy, a UPS solution capable of achieving ground breaking efficiency levels of 99.5 percent.
The Primacy
The Primacy’s overall functionality has been largely driven by customer demand for even greater operational efficiency. However, it is important to note that Borri’s manufacturing experience in developing leading edge technologies and our dedication to delivering ultimate power protection, have formed the backbone of this new scalable, modular UPS system.
Providing a unity output (kVA = kW) and as the world’s most efficient UPS solution, The Primacy can achieve a record breaking 99.5 percent efficiency and 20 percent additional useable power. The new best in class transformer free 60 – 100kVA modular UPS units innovatively combine three operating modes of protection Ultra High Efficiency (UHE), Active Filtering and Green Conversion.
These sophisticated technological solutions that have been integrated into The Primacy were not cultivated overnight and have taken years of meticulous research and development to perfect.
Achieving ground breaking efficiency levels and reliable power protection
Delivering the highest levels of efficiency in UHE mode, The Primacy is the first of its kind which can operate silently with the inverter in hot standby ready to take the load within 10mS, well within ITI (CBEMA) curve, whilst achieving cutting-edge operational efficiency levels of 99.5 percent and unity output power factor.
Drawing on Borri’s experience in delivering superior resilience, we developed an additional layer of power protection to ensure maximum control and separation between the supply line and the load, where power is entirely supplied by the inverter and whilst benefiting from all the functionalities of on-line double conversion mode, the UPS is completely isolated from the mains voltage. This is referred to as Green Conversion mode.
Supporting this is an intelligent Active Filter mode capable of achieving up to 98 percent efficiency, which has been designed to safeguard against any disruptions to the mains, load harmonic distortion, reactive power and fluctuations in input supply voltages, and offers another layer of power protection to react directly to any power input disturbances.
Addressing all user requirements
Unlike other high efficiency UPS systems, The Primacy gives the user total control, enabling them to configure which mode of operation the UPS should operate in at the touch of a button.
This pioneering new UPS system cleverly allows end users to make investments based on their current power protection requirements and the flexible structure of The Primacy enables them to expand their existing infrastructure according to future needs.
Reinforced by IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) technology and multi-level protection, this advanced modulation system and transformer free technology guarantees a highly efficient power conversion and now features advanced intelligence technology, allowing it to choose the most efficient operating mode based on the quality of the mains supply and load conditions. The modular design of The Primacy ensures the UPS system is always running in a high efficiency band so no energy is ‘wasted’.
Another significant benefit of The Primacy is that there is no need to change electrical foundations and additional UPS modules can be integrated without the need to shut-down, allowing end users to effortlessly increase their power protection capabilities.
Resilience comes first
Our ability to respond so effectively to customer demand for improved efficiency and flexibility would not have been possible, had it not been for Borri’s extensive industry knowledge, technical expertise and dedication to providing vital resilience.
As Borri has always placed protection as its number one priority it has never shied away from being a strong advocator of transformer-based UPS units and as many other manufacturers focused all their attention on developing transformerless systems, we continued with the development of our transformer-based solutions – offering customers the best of both worlds.
Borri’s perseverance in utilising new technologies to support the performance of UPS solutions has positioned us at the forefront of revolutionising high performance transformer-based units, which can achieve the same high efficiency levels of standard transformerless systems.
Intelligent in-built software and output transformer, makes the company’s ECO UPS range flexible across a wider range of applications and able to achieve efficiency levels of up to 98 percent. This smart technology dispels the myth that it is only transformerless UPS systems which can achieve far greater efficiency levels even in permanent online dual conversion mode.
Although Borri’s UPS units have stayed true to the tradition of Italian craftsmanship, it is in UPS software development where the company has pushed the boundaries to achieve even higher levels of efficiency.
Its B9000FXS and B9600FXS series incorporates an innovative Smart OnLine (SOL) technology option, which gives end users the ability to achieve even greater efficiency levels of up to 98 percent.
As Borri achieved a breakthrough in transformer-based UPS technology, we also made huge strides with transformer free UPS solutions. The company’s commitment to delivering ultimate back-up power protection meant that our challenge, when developing transformer free systems, did not solely focus on achieving high efficiency but also on retaining the same high levels of protection delivered by traditional transformer-based UPS solutions.
Historically UPS solutions were driven by cost and resilience, where the operational focus was solely based on the level of protection the UPS could provide. Nowadays, UPS design is largely driven by the rise in energy prices, Government carbon reduction incentives and ultimately what customers want – and that is more efficient systems with increased user flexibility.
The customer is always right but…
Over recent years, customers have driven the demand for more efficient UPS solutions, which has resulted in the development of the world’s most efficient UPS, The Primacy.
However it has been known that end users can become fixated on achieving cost savings through greater efficiency measures, forgetting the primary focus of why they purchased the UPS – to provide ultimate back-up power protection.
Luckily, delivering load protection is our number one priority. Nevertheless, users also need to recognise how to make better, more informed purchasing decisions. They need to understand how to choose the right UPS for their environment by factoring in load requirements, the day-to-day energy consumption of a UPS, its predicted lifespan, the environmental impact of the technology and all other related risk factors.
When deciding on any UPS solution users must always take into consideration the advantages of both a transformer-based UPS and transformer free solution. Transformer-based solutions benefit from complete galvanic isolation of the critical load from input spikes, surges and DC voltages, whereas transformer free solutions provide a smaller more compact solution.
Borri has also developed cutting-edge technological developments in UPS software to effectively allow businesses to ‘have their cake and eat it’ – high efficiency, cost savings, flexibility and control, with minimum risk to load protection with both transformer free and transformer-based solutions.
By embracing the latest developments in power consumption technology, Borri is able to deliver the highest levels of protection and as a leading UPS manufacturer of both technologies can help end users select the most appropriate solution.
Customer influence has been the main driving force behind our most recent UPS technology breakthrough, allowing us to achieve industry leading efficiency levels of 99.5 percent. We will continue to listen to market demands and utilise them in our UPS developments, but be assured that delivering resilience will always take precedence over customer influence, which will ultimately ensure that Borri delivers the best of both worlds for all applications.
www.borri.co.uk Tel: 01246 431431
