Ultracapacitor Uninterruptible Power Supply (U-UPS)
The ultra-capacitor uninterruptible power supply system (U-UPS) provides uninterruptible emergency power supply through ultra-fast detection of mains faults, making it particularly suitable for industrial plants with critical production processes. The ultracapacitor UPS system provides up to 30 sec. of power. active power and thus ensures the transitional supply until the emergency generators are synchronized. This makes it possible to replace lead-acid batteries, which are characterized by high maintenance requirements and limited service life.
Your Benefits at a Glance
Maximum uptime – by eliminating 100% of production downtime caused by
micro-interruptions, voltage dips, etc.; maintenance-free energy storage; cost-effective solution specifically designed for
applications requiring 1–10 seconds of power supply
High flexibility – offers scalable, high-quality power from 350 kW up to 5 MW; optional integration of
additional battery storage systems in the future
Guaranteed security of a high-quality and reliable power supply
Cost-saving solution compared to online UPS systems – minimal efficiency losses in standby mode;
minimal additional loads due to highly efficient liquid cooling; cost-efficient operation, service, and maintenance –
maintenance
Ultra-fast response time – detects grid events and takes over power supply within 10 ms
High power density – offers fast charge and discharge times (high C-rates);
Ultracaps offer high power density and long lifecycles of up to 1 million charge cycles
Space-saving – as a turnkey container solution
Application in all industrial sectors
Economical solution for smooth production processes: Ultracapacitor UPS (U-UPS) against voltage dips and micro-interruptions
According to grid monitoring by the German Association of the Industrial Energy and Power Industry (VIK), 72 percent of supply disruptions were shorter than one second in 2012. A study by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Bavaria (2017) also shows that short interruptions and voltage dips of less than one second are the most common disruptive factors in the power supply. This is caused, for example, by short circuits in the distribution network, lightning strikes, the connection or disconnection of power plants or volatile energy generators such as wind and solar farms.
Problem:
The electronic components and control elements used in production processes are particularly sensitive to such voltage dips (abrupt drop in amplitude to 90 to 1 % of the nominal voltage) and micro-interruptions (< 1 sec). They lead to disruptions or even complete standstill of production processes. As a result, in addition to the costly restart of production, rework or even replacement of damaged products is often necessary. This causes massive economic damage to the companies affected.
Solution:
To protect sensitive production components and avoid production interruptions, the use of FREQCON's U-UPS solutions as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) offers enormous economic and technical benefits. Especially compared to conventional UPS systems based on flywheels or batteries, they represent a cost-efficient solution - and without the usual loss of efficiency of an online UPS.
U-UPS solutions from FREQCON GmbH
Advantages:
- Most economical solutions compared to flywheels or battery storage systems because: low acquisition, energy and operating costs
- Amortization of acquisition costs often after just a few months
- Significantly lower maintenance requirements compared to other systems
- Particularly economical use for voltage dips of up to 10 seconds in low and medium voltage networks
- Fast charging and discharging times
- Very long service life (up to 1 million cycles)
- scalable power from 170 kW up to 5 MW
- Consistent power quality and performance, no error messages, no downtime of sensitive equipment during the entire production process
- Losses are only 0.5%
Functionality
- Automatic reaction to voltage dips as well as micro-interruptions and takeover of load supply in less than 10 ms thanks to integrated energy store
- Separation of the power supply by integrated FREQCON Fast Disconnector from the public network and generation of a separate isolated network
- If transmission grid provides the appropriate voltage again, the system automatically synchronizes and reconnects to the public power grid.
- Charging of the ultracapacitors takes place during normal operation through public network
- The multi-source converter technology used in U-UPS enables the provision of bridging time from seconds to minutes or even hours through additional integration of batteries or generators
- Optionally, the system offers STATCOM functionality for power factor correction
- Systems for indoor installation or turnkey container solutions for quick installation and easy transport are available
Ultracapacitor Uninterruptible Power Supply (UUPS)
With the integration of robots and automated machines, an increasing number of companies are relying on a growing number of sensitive machines. The issue is that the grid quality is sometimes suboptimal, and even the smallest voltage dips of 5 to 10% over short periods can, for example, cause a misalignment of the robotic arm. Similarly, data centers can lose critical data and constantly switch to UPS mode when connected to a poor power grid. Such incidents can result in massive financial damage.
At Freqcon, we have developed smart, space-saving, and efficient solutions that help ensure power supply security during power outages and short interruptions, supporting production or operations. To provide maximum support and protect against failures, ensuring that the operation of a production line or process is not disrupted, only one of our ultracapacitor systems is required—no complex company or grid expansion needed.
Ensuring power quality is actually quite simple – or is it?
Ensuring a safe and reliable power supply for these intelligent machines and processes presents two major challenges:
- Voltage dips can occur frequently, up to several hundred times a day.
- The emergency power supply or UPS must respond so quickly that the load is not affected by the grid issues.
Moreover, more than 90% of voltage dips and situations with poor power quality last no longer than 1 second. In modern automation technology, such short voltage dips or even interruptions, down to the millisecond range, can have serious consequences. The systems are highly sensitive and may fail, causing the entire production process to halt or even come to a standstill.
"In Germany, I would say it happens maybe once, twice, or three times a month. In neighboring countries like the Czech Republic, Italy, or Hungary, where the power grids are not as developed, it can happen multiple times a day." – Marcel Biler, Sales Engineer and Short-Term Storage Expert at Freqcon.
Conventional backup power systems are inefficient and completely overdimensioned for this application. Flywheels and generators must run continuously, leading to constant losses, while battery systems are typically sized for applications lasting 1 hour or even longer.
The UUPS system detects the voltage dip, and when the voltage or frequency falls below the threshold, we can disconnect the grid using our Freqcon disconnectors, establish an islanded network through our inverter, and supply the required energy via the ultracapacitor energy storage. This entire process takes less than 20 milliseconds.
In this way, we can establish an islanded network for a brief moment, provide the required power, and then, once the grid is back and stable, resynchronize and protect the production line or even the entire company from this frequency/voltage dip.
Due to the speed of grid disconnection and the immediate power supply from ultracapacitors or batteries, even the sensitive equipment in modern machines is unaffected, preventing any disruption in production.
The ultracapacitors can be discharged more than 50,000 times per year, and their capacity and functionality can be guaranteed for over 20 years of operation.
This compact solution is perfect for sensitive machines, even when connected to weak power grids.
Application Examples of UUPS
This is also supported by a case example from a customer in the Czech Republic, who can experience such grid dips up to three times a day. These dips last from several hundred milliseconds to two or three seconds. However, even voltage dips, where the voltage falls below certain setpoints, as well as complete blackouts lasting a few minutes, still occur regularly and will continue to challenge us as we transition to renewable energy sources.
Depending on the sensitivity of the equipment, it is crucial to achieve grid disconnection within those 20 milliseconds. Our self-developed and manufactured Freqcon Fast Disconnectors can respond within this time window, which also meets the requirements of modern automotive production lines. We achieve this with thyristor switches, which can block the current within a few milliseconds and grant us grid release within a few more milliseconds, allowing us to provide power in real-time.
