WP#48 - Evaluation of Eco Mode in Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems

24 September, 2012 | White Paper

Editors: George Navarro, Eaton Brad Thrash, GE Digital Energy Contributors: Lynn Simmons, Dell John Collins, Eaton David Loucks, Eaton Dusty Becker, Emerson Network Power Bill Campbell, Emerson Network Power Harry Handlin, GE Digital Energy Andrew Lynch, Gexpro Pam Lembke, IBM Shaun Harris, Microsoft Stephen McCluer Schneider Electric Jim Spitaels, Schneider Electric Keith Klesner, The Uptime Institute

As energy costs rise and the desire to be “green” increases, the need for energy efficiency is becoming more prevalent. Data center operators are reviewing certain aspects of their data centers, including power distribution systems and, in particular, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, to identify opportunities to boost efficiency.

Many options to incrementally improve power system efficiency are available to data center operators. These options typically involve either removing or moving components in the power path, changing an aspect of data center operations, or using more efficient components. The Green Grid Data Center Maturity Model includes specific recommendations on many of these potential efficiency improvements in the power system.

This white paper addresses one of these efficiency improvement opportunities in depth: Eco Mode operation for three-phase, facility-scale UPSs. An alternating current (AC) UPS can have several modes of operation, of which one is so-called “Eco Mode.” Different levels of efficiency and performance are achievable with the different modes. Typically, Eco Mode is the highest efficiency mode. This white paper focuses on Eco Mode in data center-level, three-phase UPS systems; it does not address smaller, single-phase UPSs.