Johnson Controls "Based on the unit's performance to date, I will most likely recommend that a Falcon UPS be included in our future system sales..." Roland Robustelli, Project Manager

InTech's March 2008 Issue "Harsh industrial power environments demand high-level power protection: The right UPS can meet that demand"

There are few applications as demanding as Industrial Process Control. Precision, repeatability, safety and up time are all paramount. The computers, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), microprocessors and software controlling this equipment yield levels of performance and accuracy not imaginable a decade ago. For this reason, power protection, especially with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), is critical.

Why do Industrial Applications Demand Clean Power?

The technology that makes these systems so powerful often exhibits sensitivity to power-related problems, resulting in costly, unreliable or inaccurate operation. The magnitude of these problems is often multiplied due to nearby production equipment such as motors and electrical devices “polluting” the facility’s electrical power. Common mode noise and ground loops between pieces of equipment or sensors can cause inaccurate readings or positioning. All of these problems can result in equipment damage, line stoppages, safety issues or the premature termination of critical processes. The resulting cost to your company can be substantial.

To the uninitiated, the cause of these problems may not be readily obvious. Power problems affecting the equipment’s microprocessor controllers often result in controller hangs or sensor and encoder glitches with the associated loss of accuracy. As an example, a large Southern U.S. soft drink bottling company had a computer controlled mixing valve that malfunctioned without any apparent reason. As a result, a large amount of defective product was being bottled. The production line had to be stopped for a period of time, and the defective product was scrapped each time. The resulting cost was enormous. The company called Falcon Electric for a solution. We shipped them one of our On-line UPS units. Since installing the Falcon On-line UPS, the company’s production line has been operating without a problem for the last three years.

Why is an On-line UPS the Best Solution?

It is simple: Off-line and Line-interactive UPS products leave your sensitive controllers and computers connected directly to the polluted utility power source 100% of the time when the utility power is present. The UPS inverter powers the equipment only when utility power is lost. These UPS designs provide only minimal voltage regulation and transient protection.

The On-line UPS continuously rectifies the incoming AC utility power to a filtered and regulated DC current. The DC is then fed into a continuous duty Pulse Width Modulated Inverter, which regenerates new, clean, tightly regulated AC sinewave power. When utility power is lost, the batteries take over supplying energy seamlessly, without the transfer glitch associated with Off-line and Line-interactive designs. The On-line approach eliminates more types of power problems. These problems include generator frequency and voltage instability, voltage surges and sags, voltage drop-outs, high voltage transients, sustained brownouts, blackouts, and noise. The On-line UPS provides superior output voltage regulation (±2% typical) while operating from a wide-range input voltage (+15 to -20% typical).  Since the On-line UPS has a continuous duty inverter, it typically has a much cleaner sinewave output (3% THD @ full load) than the Off-line and Line-interactive types.

Falcon Engineering Support

Power problems in an industrial environment can be complex and difficult to solve. Falcon’s Power Engineers are only a telephone call away and can assist in determining the most effective solution to your company’s specific power problems.

Falcon’s SSG, FN and SG Series™ UPS for Industrial Applications

High-Temperature Operation up to 55°C (131°F)

A few On-line UPS products on the market, like Falcon’s SSG Series™ Industrial-Grade UPS, support Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Listed, High-Temperature operation up to 55°C (131°F).  Many industrial applications demand that equipment be operated and survive in such harsh environments while maintaining its UL Listed status. The ultra-reliable SSG Series UPS meets this requirement.

Load Segment Control

Some applications require the UPS to turn off load segments to increase battery runtime, while continuing to power other critical equipment. This is referred to as Load Segment Control and is available on the SSG Series Industrial-Grade UPS. The user may program up to two load segments to turn off upon a loss of utility or at a low battery state.

Hot-Swappable, User-Replaceable Battery Packs

Both our SSG and FN Series™ UPS families incorporate hot-swappable and user-replaceable battery packs, thereby eliminating downtime during battery replacement and greatly simplifying the replacement process. All battery packs are replaceable through the UPS front panel with slide-out packs, simplifying the replacement process.

Parallel Output or N+1 Redundant Operation

Falcon Electric’s FN Series Parallelable N+1 Redundant UPS models offer the ultimate solution to applications demanding 24/7 up time. The FN Series is available in individual 3, 4, and 6kVA UPS units that can have the outputs of up to four units connected in parallel. Output capacities of up to 12, 16 and 24kVA are achievable in parallel mode or up to 9, 12 and 18kVA in N+1 Redundant operating mode. The single-unit approach in paralleling UPS units is much more cost effective over the modular approach taken by other manufacturers. It also eliminates most single-points-of-failure found in other modular models.

What is N+1 Redundancy?

When four Falcon FN 6kVA UPS units are connected in parallel, a total output of 24kVA is possible. In the event the user would like to remove any single UPS for servicing, the system would then be rated at 18kVA. This would allow for any one 6kVA UPS to be completely removed without having to power down the remaining UPS units in the system. Every FN Series UPS incorporates a special Inter-UPS communications bus and DSP processors--giving them the intelligence to automatically take a defective UPS unit offline, disconnecting it from the output of the other UPS units and the critical load.

Supports Centralized UPS Monitoring and Management

All Falcon SSG, FN and SG Series On-line UPS models supports the addition of an optional SNMP/HTTP Agent communications board. In large industrial environments tens to hundreds of UPS units may be distributed throughout a facility or in facilities located around the world. Localized monitoring and management of these UPS units is too costly. Our
USHA SNMP/HTTP Agent board provides an Ethernet based TCP-IP addressable solution to the problem.  The board provides a secure method of UPS monitoring and management from one centralized location.

Client software is supplied with an unlimited license.  The software facilitates the shutdown of multiple workstations and servers via the network. The user has the option of using Network Management Software (NMS) like HP OpenVIew™ or most web browsers like Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox as an interface. Trap addresses may be programmed into the agent facilitating the automatic notification of a centralized workstation in the event of a UPS event.

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