Eaton touts ‘exclusive’ battery free UPS solution

Eaton says it is the first manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies to deliver a complete back up power solution that uses in-house manufactured “supercapacitors” instead of batteries. Eaton’s supercapacitors, when combined with an Eaton UPS, are said to provide a “convenient and affordable alternative” in applications where only short-term power protection is required or battery backed solutions cannot be used.

Eaton’s supercapacitors offer a wide range of benefits compared to traditional batteries. They are much lighter, have working lives of up to 20 years at 25ºC, require no maintenance and, as they produce almost no heat, their cooling requirements are minimal.

The supercapacitors are also ideal for applications where harsh operating conditions and high ambient temperatures mean that the use of batteries is not feasible.

“Our complete UPS plus supercapacitor solution delivers a compelling alternative for short-term back-up requirements, helping us lead the industry and deliver real business benefits for our customers,” said Jussi Vihersalo, product manager, Eaton.

“The solution is very competitively priced when compared to flywheel based solutions, which means lower capital expenditure for a given size of system. The long lives and lower operating costs of the supercapacitors mean that they substantially reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO).”

Unlike batteries, supercapacitors generate no hydrogen during their operation, so provisions for hydrogen removal are not needed.

A typical application for supercapacitor UPS solutions is use in conjunction with standby generators to maintain power while the generator starts. Another example is for protection against short power interruptions resulting from the operation of upstream power distribution systems, such as auto transfers and auto reclose events.

They are also useful as peak buffers in conjunction with equipment that has short repetitive peak power requirements, such as MRI scanners.

@AntonySavvas

Antony Savvas

York, UK-based Antony Savvas has been a technology journalist for 25 years and has expertise in all major areas of enterprise and consumer IT. He has worked for a number of leading technology magazines and websites and his work is syndicated across the internet. He also undertakes corporate work for some of the world's leading technology companies.