Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)

Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are a critical part of a hospital’s power supply infrastructure. When coupled with IPS and back-up generators, they provide the operating theatre and other critical care with continuity of power in the event of a variety of supply failure scenarios. IEC 60364-7-710 and HTM06-01 states that in the event of loss of power, all the medical locations where isolated power is installed (i.e. a Group 2 location) require power to be resumed (for life supporting equipment) within a maximum of 0.5 seconds. It further states, "Certain microprocessor controlled equipment may require a no-break power supply".

Starkstrom has been providing hospitals and medical facilities with high quality and bespoke UPS systems that work alongside our IPS systems for many years now. With our expertise and understanding of what is needed to comply with the ever evolving standards, we can design and supply you with a fully integrated package with a UPS feeding an IPS. The remote alarms for these systems can also be integrated together as a single remote alarm, displayed on Theatre Control Panels, integrated with the BMS, sent over the hospital network and via email. It is Starkstrom’s ability to coordinate the design and integration of all these systems and their alarms that makes us truly unique in this field.

There are many considerations for the optimal system design:

• The site topology (and customer preference) may lend itself to either centralised, semi-centralised or a distributed UPS strategy
• Size (kVA) of UPS
• Constraints and options for input power supply (3-phase or single phase) and output power supply (3-phase or single phase)
• Resilience may be considered in the form of interleaved, parallel or modular UPS
• Redundancy may be considered in the form of parallel, cascade or modular UPS
• Autonomy (battery duration) should be driven by clinical needs. It could be different for operating theatres, ITU or interventional imaging suites
• External maintenance by-pass arrangements can be simple changeovers, no-break multi-switch, or full “Castell type” interlocking

Please contact us for any help or assistance you may need navigating the current standards and arriving at the optimal UPS solution