Lithium-ion batteries may have been a common source of power for various consumer devices for years, but they are now being adopted, as well, for use with Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) applications, “as a means of ensuring uptime for mission-critical infrastructure in data centers.”
A new white paper from Vertiv pointed out that for companies looking to deploy distributed computing and edge networks, lithium-ion batteries are well suited for use with IT deployments in remote locations.
Download the full report.
Also, lithium-ion batteries include a Battery Monitoring System (BMS) and other features that help to ensure safe battery operation. While the initial cost of lithium-ion batteries is still higher than lead acid batteries, this cost difference is shrinking, Vertiv points out.
In this white paper, Vertiv looks at how lithium-ion batteries can be used to support single-phase UPS systems in remote mission-critical environments and edge data centers.
Vertiv looks at it like this: If your company is looking to establish localized IT resources, it’s possible you’re thinking of deploying multiple IT footprints in remote locations as part of a distributed computing or edge network.
“The venues used for hosting these localized IT footprints include small data centers, server rooms, and network closets,” Vertiv says.
And often, these remote deployments rely on single-phase UPS systems, rather than lager facilities that typically have three-phase UPS systems.
But this makes a reliable battery system even more crucial to these smaller facilities with only one UPS to deliver backup power.
Enter, lithium-ion batteries. In the past five years, the Vertiv report shares that lithium-ion batteries have come into use as a stored energy source in traditional data centers.
“In traditional data centers, the battery system is an important “fail-safe device.”
Over the typical service life of a Uninturruptible Power Supply system or (UPS), it is estimated that a lithium-ion battery system can provide a TCO savings of 40% or more.— Vertiv
“In the event of a power outage, strings of batteries provide power to the UPS during the several minutes of ride-through time in which the data center switches over to an auxiliary power source, such as a second utility feed or generator,” the paper explains.
But in edge data centers or remote IT deployments, the battery system often acts as the auxiliary power source for that facility, meaning if a power outage occurs, the batteries may provide backup power to the UPS for 30 minutes or more.
For these data centers, “The battery helps to ensure uptime by keeping the IT infrastructure operational. As such, a traditional, remote, or edge facility must have a reliable battery system to ensure continuous operation of the UPS, and ongoing availability of the IT equipment,” states the new report.
Potential benefits of lithium-ion batteries outlines in the white paper include:
- Improved reliability and availability
- Longer lifespan
- Lower weight
- Smaller footprint
- Higher energy density and power density
- Accommodate higher temperatures
- Faster recharge
Download the full report, “The Advantages of Using Lithium-Ion Batteries as A Backup Power Source in Single-Phase UPS Applications for Data Centers,” courtesy of Vertiv, to further explore how lithium-ion battery solutions can be used with UPS applications in remote facilities and edge data centers
Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution.