How to Maintain UPS Power Supply to Avoid Failure to Provide Power Service

To ensure greater flexibility in data centers, organizations must maintain their own uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to provide power protection. Its maintenance aims at minimizing risks and maintaining UPS power supply in a safe and effective manner. However, if there are risks inherent in the conduct of maintenance, what kind of response can the organization take? British Airways'data center failed in the summer of 2017 due to human error. Human error is the main cause of problems during UPS maintenance. Engineers may perform the program in the wrong order or on the wrong switch.

Although it is easy to blame engineers for negligence in these cases, such errors are usually caused by irregular operating procedures, poor identification and even inadequate training measures. Risks can be avoided by eliminating these problems at the beginning of UPS installation.

If the installed UPS power supply system is composed of large parallel UPS and complex switchgear, interlocking should be added to the design. These measures encourage users to switch in a controlled and secure manner, but are often excluded from the design at the beginning of a project to save costs.

All-weather equipment monitoring also provides strong protection and should be part of the organizational maintenance system. Strict training is also crucial.

Simple measures can also make a difference.

Avoid disaster by updating basic labels and switching charts in real time. It is recommended that organizations clearly record switching procedures. If on-site maintenance is very important, maintenance personnel will remind each other (two engineers will check the performance before each operation) to prevent most human errors.
Using Advanced Technology

Any maintenance and maintenance may bring risks to UPS or switchgear, so it is necessary to reduce the number of maintenance. By monitoring the heat of electrical components, most of the problems, including the faults of electrical components, can be detected in advance.

If the connection point of the electrical component is not tightened, it will begin to heat up and eventually fail in some way. The most effective solution for checking each connection is thermal imaging. Thermal imaging technology can identify potential problems.

Monitoring equipment and functions

24/7 equipment monitoring also provides powerful protection function, which should be part of organizational maintenance measures. Strict training is also essential, while ensuring that equipment managers are competent for the job.

Organizational maintenance personnel should not be afraid to ask maintenance service providers questions. They are responsible for providing qualification certificates related to the organization itself and its engineers, and always need to check on-site processing.

Strong maintenance measures should also ensure timely and effective response to UPS failures. Service level agreements must be critical to applications. If UPS can only be accessed during normal working hours, such maintenance contracts are meaningless for UPS 24/7 response. That is to say, if the data center runs around the clock and is critical to the business, it needs to respond around the clock.

The organization needs to specify the composition of the response, possibly just the phone number or the engineer visiting the site, and check the qualification and level of the engineer.
A review of the organization's current UPS maintenance procedures will help identify and reduce the risk of critical operations that may not have been anticipated by the organization before. Through due diligence, organizations can avoid accidents.