Dear all,
This is a belated summary of the results of my query from June on UPS
units for INOVA consoles. We needed a backup that could supply the
required current for a short time, as the outlets are on a generator.
After the e-mail we decided to get the same brand for the INOVA 600 an
AvanceII-500 and a cryoprobe cooling unit. We chose Powerware 9125
6000g for the consoles and Powerware 9125 3000g for the cryoprobe and a
BACS-60. We are using buck-boost transformers between the UPS and the
Bruker equipment.
Thanks to Dave Vander Velde, Christopher Robosky, Wei Wyckoff, Michael
Osborne, Josh Kurutz, Sara Kunz, Martha Morton, Andrew Fowler, Richard
Fitch, Geoff Armstrong, Hsin Wang and Lazaros Kakalis. If I missed
The edited responses follow.
Wm. R. Kearney, Ph.D.
Director
Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine NMR Facility
B291 Carver Biomed. Res. Bldg.
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
ph. (319) 335-6610
fax (319) 335-7273
william-kearney_at_uiowa.edu
One thing I did with our Inova that I would NOT do again is buy, at
considerable extra expense, a dual voltage UPS to support both the
console
and the computer. It is much, much cheaper to buy a separate 120 V UPS
sized just for the computer and some key peripherals (such as any
network
hubs it is connected to). This also required us to rewire our existing
connections because the dual voltage configuration required 4 wires
rather
than the 3 we had originally put in.
If you are putting the UPS in an existing installation, you may
not have this problem, but we tried to use our Liebert UPS both for
providing the backup and increasing the voltage from 208 to 220.
Possibly
the combination of the step-up and the dual voltage was especially bad,
but in any case, this was a disaster. The UPS died a violent death
twice
in the first year and Liebert told us we wouldn't get any more
in-warranty
repairs unless we stopped stepping up the voltage. We installed a step
up
transformer prior to the UPS and did not have any more smoke in the lab
after that (at some cost to our credibility with the electricians, who
had
to rewire it twice).
I have 20 systems here all on UPS. I have several varieties. I prefer
the Liebert 6 KVa systems. The cost is around $7K. Remember to get the
110 ac accessory pack also. Best of luck. Batteries will need to be
replaced once every three years.
We have APC Matrix UPS model 5000 for our Inova600. It supports the
console, the computers (host and cryobay PC). It has 8 batteries and
can last about 40 min. If you need just a few seconds, 4 batteries
would do. We've had this UPS for over 5 years and first set of 4
batteries had just gone bad and we replaced them for $522.
We have a TOSHIBA three phase - 15/25/50 kVA UPS that is set up for
exaclty as you require. The model is 4200FA. If you'd like some more
information, you can contact ON-POWER at 1800 363 9133 who installed it
for us. We are running eactly the same system on this including a cold
probe.
We've had a Powerware 9330-40 supporting our entire operation since
2003, including three UnityInovas (2 600 & 1 500), one cold probe, a
separate RRI shim power supply, three FTS chillers, and all our
computers. It runs at ~50% capacity and the standard battery pack
should keep us alive ~50 minutes.
It's a three-phase unit so it can handle the cold probe's pump. If you
ever plan on adding a cold probe, I highly recommend you factor in this
unique requirement. All out normal single-phase power is supplied to
the electrical panel by suitable connections and transformers set up by
the electrician.
I can't tell you how great it is to have this thing backing up our
systems. Our cold probe was installed during a snowstorm that caused
our lights to flicker on and off and go brown for a couple of days, and
our hardware never batted an eye. Our UPSless neighbors have had to
replace lots of boards in their MRI setup because of power spikes,
whereas we've had zero trouble.
The system plus 5 years of service cost ~ $27k, but I wouldn't think
you'd need such a large UPS for one spectrometer unless you plan on
adding a cold probe.
My only experience with competing vendors was during the purchase. APC
sounded, but their reps mostly wanted to assume we had a room full of
computer servers.
I can look at our UPS when I go to fill the 600 later but you need in
inline UPS which makes it cost real money. You don't want any
switchover time which would cause the electronics to shut down. The
thing which is in some ways more important unless you are actually
subject to power glitches is the loss of the VT air. You want people
to have their experiments set to stop when VT control is lost. This
will protect the probe when there is a loss of cooling air.
Only the 800 here has a backup generator and that really for the
magnet. Our building generator does not have enough power to supply
the magnets along with everything that needs power and certainly not
our air compressors. With no air we can't do experiments. Perhaps
you are lucky and have house Nitrogen.
http://www.powerware.com/
We have a 9150 with a buck-boost transformer after it to get to the
voltage required by Varian. I am beginning to think about replacing
the batteries. I am glad the company is still around.
You probably only need a 6KVa UPS. I have a 6 and a 10 in the lab.
Two different vendors, Deltec and Leibert. Leibert keeps track of
their equipment more, including servicing and contracts. This could be
due to the regional sales. My electrical outages are much longer than
when I was in Kansas: 2-3 hours typically. Either vendor makes a good
product. Make sure to get a UPS that supports the workstation as well.
It's fine to keep the console going, but if the workstation crashed
due to the outage, you still have to restart and experiment.
This may be redundant if you got a reply from ... but here at ... we're
using Powerware 9125 (6 kVa) UPS units on two 500s and a 600, all four
channel instruments. I purchased and installed one in the past few
months to replace a ten year old unit that was failing; the cost was
right around $2300. We purchased all of these from Eaton - let me know
if you want their contact information. This UPS will keep the system
running under full load for at least 10 minutes or so, quite a bit more
than you need according to your post.
We are getting a UPS for our 400 Bruker at the moment and they
recommend the Liebert GXT-2 series (ours spec'd at 208V/6KVA). We are
getting it with additional battery life because we are not on generator
backup, but that does not sound like a problem for you. The unit comes
with one internal battery to give five minutes at full usage, which
would be all you need. The major advantage for this is that it provides
online (AC-DC-AC) power conditioning as well as UPS capability, which
should be helpful as you can have power surges/dips when switching over.
You can find them at
http://www.liebert.com/dynamic/displayproduct.asp?id=1013&cycles=60Hz.
For our 900, which is a 4 channel triple axis system (VNMRS) we have a
Powerware 9170, which is essentially a user configurable system. We
have 3 power units, which makes it a 9 kVA system and gives us plenty
of power to run all of the console and some extraneous parts like the
FTS, or a scope if you want to eliminate ground loops. You can then
match that system with a set of batteries to carry the load over your
outage. In our case we have 18 battery packs, which is a fair surplus,
and can give us 2.5 hours of run-time while an experiment is running.
The unit itself is quite large, but the footprint is small, 24" x 27".
If you don't have as many batteries, there is an option for a cart.
The power requirements for the UPS are pretty hefty, ours is hardwired
to a 240V / 60A main, which meant we had to have some larger gauge wire
pulled by our electricians. Let me know if you would like any more
information.
Our INOVA600 (upgraded from U+) has 4 channels and
z-gradient. Initially it had a DELTEC 3.6KVA/2.4KW UPS. That turns
out to
be inadequate and we had overheated and bloated batteries. Last year we
bought a Powerware 9125-6000G (rated 6KVA/4.2KW, quoted $2,800) with a
PowerPass Distribution Module (quoted $500). It seems to work all
right in
the last year.
Wm. R. Kearney, Ph.D.
Director
Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine NMR Facility
B291 Carver Biomed. Res. Bldg.
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
ph. (319) 335-6610
fax (319) 335-7273
william-kearney_at_uiowa.edu
Received on Fri Oct 27 2006 - 12:30:16 MST