While we all know that our daily requirements depend largely on energy sources provided by a single utility power, we must also be aware of the fact that this lone supplier may get overloaded and cut off its source for sometime. It is in such a situation that we need an UPS to provide us with an uninterrupted power supply.How do we know which one to choose and which one is good?

As is known, uninterruptible power supplies or UPS are a back up source of energy that provide emergency power to devices that are connected to it until the main utility source is restored or the equipment safely switched off. An uninterrupted power supply system can be considered a life saving device as it helps avoid serious situations such as fatalities that could occur in a hospital due to a lapse in power supply or a loss of important data and many other grave power disruptions.

But how can we tell which uninterruptible power supply is appropriate for us. There are two primary kinds of uninterruptible power supplies, the on-line and the line interactive UPS systems. The double-conversion is utilised by the on-line uninterruptible power supply. This means it takes in the AC input that is available from the main utility source and then converts it into DC power. This is necessary for it to pass through the battery. Once this is done it converts it back to AC power which runs the connected equipment.

The line interactive uninterruptible power supplies have an internal or in-line inverter that transmits the DC power of the battery from the standard charging form to supplying energy during an emergency power failure. This UPS system is similar to the stand by or off-line UPS system but it has a flexible electrical transformer that has the ability to increase or decrease the magnetic field and therefore produce a different voltage to that of the transformer. It is able to withstand constant low voltage brownouts and high voltage surges without using up the stored energy.

An on-line UPS is perfect for situations where there are extreme voltage fluctuations and the equipment connected to it is highly sensitive. They are more expensive than the line-interactive and the stand by UPS and were earlier available only for larger consumption installations. They are available now however, in smaller consumer equipments. These use about 500 watts of power. They are convenient for locations where there are large numbers of noise-making equipments such as those seen in large industries. Apart from this they may require a back up generator to supply an uninterrupted power supply to these equipments.

This powerful UPS system is more advanced and more expensive than the other two UPS systems due to the fact it has an advanced cooling system that efficiently provides energy sources to your equipment and a powerful AC to DC converter. No power transmission switches are required on this on-line UPS system as the converter moves out of the circuit when there is a power cut and then when it is connected back to the main power supply it will resume charging.

Based on these two designs and their functions, you can decide which uninterruptible power supply system is right for you. Uninterruptible power supply will always provide you uninterrupted power no matter what your situatiion; this is regardless as to whether this is for home, office or a large organisation.