What Is a UPS
Q: What is the point of using a UPS?
A: An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is an emergency power backup system using a combination of a rectifier (which charges a battery from utility) and an inverter (which feeds clean filtered AC sine-wave power, derived from the battery, to the connected critical load when the mains supply fails).
The UPS protects sensitive IT, electronic and other inverter loads from:
- Power failures
- Brownouts and short loss in power
- High spikes and transients (typically caused by lightning and high-voltage switching on the grid)
- General bad power (common near heavy industry — arc furnaces, etc.)
The UPS acts as a filter so the load does not “see” the bad power supply, while the battery covers the gap during outages. This prevents software corruption, data loss, production stoppages, equipment damage, and in critical environments (medical, life-safety) injury or worse.
Connections
- Eskom — referenced (grid context), source: https://standbysystems.co.za/ups-batteries-questions-and-answers/