The fragility of the UK’s ageing power generation network is widely recognised. Yet despite the very real risk of power outages, a huge proportion of the critical UK infrastructure is still 100% reliant on the mains supply – leaving businesses and consumers extremely vulnerable should major outages occur. From traffic lights to railway crossings and utilities providers, in today’s joined up and Internet enabled society, every aspect of the infrastructure is reliant upon clean, reliable power supply.
As such, the importance of contingency planning is demonstrated on a nearly daily basis. When less than an hour’s downtime of the air traffic control system over London resulted in two days of chaos; or when a road closure can cause grid lock in the surrounding area for hours, the fragility of the UK infrastructure becomes very clear. How will the emergency services respond to problems caused by a power outage when the roads are gridlocked because the traffic lights are not working? When innovative technology enables controllers to turn all the lights green on a key route to support rapid emergency response – failing to protect the traffic lights against mains failure would appear somewhat shortsighted.
Furthermore this is not just about protecting against a full power outage – in reality just a small percentage of power problems are associated with complete failure. It is far more likely that individual components will be damaged as a result of a power spike, surge or dip. Protecting against these problems is also critical to keep the infrastructure working effectively and to minimise the additional costs associated with costly repair.
The Harland ProtectUPS® is a range of rugged power protection systems that safeguard against any mains power failure, particularly those that are subject to harsh or unmanned environments. In the event of a power cut, the system switches seamlessly to backup batteries without interrupting the power, ensuring there is no disruption to normal service. On restoration of a company’s power, the system automatically switches back to mains power and begins to re-charge the batteries.
Harland Simon works closely with its clients to ensure they get a high standard of customised UPS systems that meets their specifications for example; The Water Industry Mechanical and Electrical Specifications (WIMES 3.07), IACS-E10 for the marine industry, MILSTD and DEFSTAN for the defence markets and Network Rail PADS Approval.
Harland ProtectUPS® has been designed specifically to provide long term protection within harsh environments that are subject to extremes of temperature, vibration, water ingress, dust and dirt all built into IP rated enclosures. The system incorporates special features and modifications using rugged, commercially available modules and components that are supported worldwide and designed to be fully field replaceable with readily available form-fit-function alternatives. These systems are highly suitable for critical locations of a business that may often be unmanned, such as traffic lights and water treatment plants. Additional benefits include ultra long-life and easy customer maintenance.
