Vertiv Expands Offerings for Lithium-Ion UPS Systems

Jan. 11, 2018
Vertiv is expanding its line of UPS systems that can use lithium-ion batteries rather than traditional lead-acid batteries, offering more options for data center operators interested in new options for their power infrastructure.

Data center vendor Vertiv is expanding its line of UPS systems that can use lithium-ion batteries rather than traditional lead-acid batteries, offering more options for data center operators interested in new options for their power infrastructure.

Lithium-ion batteries are commonplace in devices like smartphones and laptop computers. But they’ve thus far been used only sparsely in the data center, where banks of lead-acid batteries have been the standard choice for providing backup power during utility outages.

Vertiv, previously known as Emerson Network Power, is one of the world’s largest vendors of power and cooling products for the data center sector. It is among the companies making the case for lithium-ion batteries as a better option than VRLA (valve-regulated lead acid) batteries. In 2016 Data Center Frontier profiled Vertiv’s first installation of a lithium-ion UPS in a data center, in this case Forsythe Data Centers facility in suburban Chicago. That site used lithium-ion battery cabinets supporting Liebert NX UPS 300kVA systems.

Advocates of lithium-ion batteries cite multiple advantages over lead-acid batteries, including a longer lifetime, reduced weight and footprint, and less rigid cooling requirements. The primary resistance point is cost: lithium-ion systems are currently 2 to 3 times the cost of a valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) system at the same power level and runtime.

The Liebert EXM 480V is the latest UPS system from Vertiv to be tested and qualified for lithium-ion batteries, offering a larger capacity. The lithium-ion batteries and battery cabinets are UL listed for use in data center environments.

“It is critical that we provide choices to fit the potential environment and architecture,” said Kyle Keeper, vice president, AC power product management, for Vertiv in the Americas. “Adding lithium-ion capabilities to the Liebert EXM UPS system is an important new option for our customers seeking core to edge solutions.”

More Alternatives to Lead-Acid

At present, the primary alternative to lead-acid batteries has been UPS systems using a flywheel, a spinning cylinder which generates power from kinetic energy, and continues to spin when grid power is interrupted. Although a flywheel offers a shorter ride-through time (about 20 seconds), it eliminates the need for batteries. Yahoo, Verizon/Terremark and Oracle all use flywheel UPS systems, but some data center managers remain wary of their shorter run time than battery-based UPS systems.

Lithium-ion UPS systems could provide another option. There are several other potential advantages. Lithium-ion batteries are less sensitive to temperature fluctuations and can accept changes in temperature. This allows customers to reduce their cooling capacity, as well as the size of the room that houses the UPS. It also offers additional design options, including in-row UPS deployments. One company already using this approach is Microsoft, which has adopted a distributed UPS instead of centralized battery cabinets, and uses lithium-ion battery cells on board each server

About the Author

Rich Miller

I write about the places where the Internet lives, telling the story of data centers and the people who build them. I founded Data Center Knowledge, the data center industry's leading news site. Now I'm exploring the future of cloud computing at Data Center Frontier.

Sponsored Recommendations

Optimizing AI Infrastructure: The Critical Role of Liquid Cooling

In this executive brief, we discuss the growing need for liquid cooling in data centers due to the increasing power demands of AI and high-performance computing. Discover how ...

AI-Driven Data Centers: Revolutionizing Decarbonization Strategies

AI hype has put data centers in the spotlight, sparking concerns over energy use—but they’re also key to a greener future. With renewable power and cutting-edge cooling, data ...

Bending the Energy Curve: Decoupling Digitalization Trends from Data Center Energy Growth

After a decade of stability, data center energy consumption is now set to surge—but can we change the trajectory? Discover how small efficiency gains could cut energy growth by...

AI Reference Designs to Enable Adoption: A Collaboration Between Schneider Electric and NVIDIA

Traditional data center power, cooling, and racks aren’t sufficient for GPU-based servers arranged in high-density AI clusters...

Courtesy of AFL
Source: Courtesy of AFL

Scaling Up and Scaling Out in AI Data Centers

Manja Thessin, Enterprise Market Manager for AFL, highlights the importance of industry collaboration across factors such as AI hardware innovation and modular infrastructure ...

White Papers

Get the full report.

Sustainable Power Generation: Kohler’s Pursuit of Clean Energy Solutions

March 7, 2022
Kohler examines how sustainable power generation can help balance the need for emergency power with the climate emergency.