How Reliable Is Your Uninterruptible Power System?: Eliminating Single Points of Failure

Industrial Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPSS) on floating offshore oil and gas platforms supply power to critical loads and require extremely high reliability and uptime. UPS configuration or topology can have a major impact on reliability and uptime, and although several UPS topologies are available on the market, space constraints can limit the options. It is important to understand topology and how the components that make up a UPS operate and impact reliability. We detail a specific UPS topology chosen for a floating production platform with high reliability requirements and space constraints. We also identify particular reliability concerns associated with that topology and outline different solutions, with their associated advantages and disadvantages.