Nine 20kW uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems to protect sensitive radar installations that monitor and collect real-time information on weather systems for analysis by SA Weather Services, have been supplied, installed and commissioned by UPS specialist Square One Power Solutions.
As part of an ongoing upgrading of key SA Weather Services radar stations, the nine American Power Conversion (APC) Silcon units have been installed at radar sites in Irene near Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Durban, Polokwane, Umtata, De Aar, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
It is critical that sensitive electronic equipment used at the radar sites is protected from power spikes, surges and brown outs, and that power supply to the equipment is maintained during a mains failure.
The radar scanning conducted at the sites allows SA Weather Services to measure many weather parameters, including precipitation. The sites also monitor the build-up and movements of bad weather systems for disaster mitigation, allowing storm and flood warnings to be issued. The information is particularly important from an aviation perspective to alert airports and commercial and private air traffic.
The electronic data gathered on the radar systems is stored for further analysis. The archived data is also useful in many other ways such as checking the validity of a hail damage insurance claim and so on.
Square One Power Solutions, the UPS specialist in the Square One Solutions Group, a JSE-listed information and communication technology (ICT) company, was asked to provide a solution that would ensure the radar equipment receives battery power at full load for a period of 15 minutes when there is a mains power supply failure, following which standby power is provided through the UPS from a diesel genset.
Square One Power Solutions managing director Neill Schreiber says the critical nature of the radar systems required a special UPS solution.
"We are an APC High Power Partner, and selected the APC Silcon range as its unique delta conversion technology offers exceptionally high efficiency with low operating costs. These units always operate at a power factor corrected input of unity. External phase compensation is not necessary and less energy is consumed, giving savings on monthly power bills sufficient to recover the capital outlay for the unit in five years.
"The Silcon units are very economical in terms of genset requirements. They need a genset with a rating of only 1.3 times the UPS capacity as opposed to a conventional UPS, which would require between 1.5 and 2 times the capacity. "
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Square One Power Solutions is a national UPS company, an APC High Power Partner and a member of the JSE-listed Square One Solutions Group. It provides power solutions for the SOHO, PCA and SME network environment, telecommunications, medical, security, lighting and general industry as well as major corporations and government.
The Square One Solutions Group focuses on providing IT-based business enabling solutions. The company has a national footprint and more than 18 years of experience of the South African market. Square One offers value-based solutions centred around biometric authentication; integrated wireless and mobile applications; enterprise storage and backup/recovery; enterprise power; coding and marking; and enterprise LAN, WAN and infrastructure for the corporate, SME and Government markets. The company also distributes document solutions, colour input and output devices and provides 24x7 national support and service.
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