THE FUTURE OF ENERGY EQUIPMENT

A LITTLE INSURANCE

The power equipment behind day-to-day networking and telecommunications may have been taken for granted prior to Sept. 11. But when terrorism took away the country's confidence, it became clear that reliable power is crucial in any crisis.

MGE UPS Systems has positioned its Pulsar Source Transfer Switch as an economical solution for service providers that want to buy “power insurance” for mission-critical applications.

“This is not going to stop terrorism, but it sets us up in a situation where we can provide reliability,” said John Pooler, senior product marketing manager for MGE UPS Systems. In the event of a primary power source failure, the STS automatically transfers up to 1400 VA of load power to an alternate power source.

According to Pooler, the STS is a simple way of adding a second power source to infrastructure that was designed only with a single-power input. The switch also allows for a fast transfer of load power.

“We put a lot of thought into the design,” Pooler said. Realizing that product size is often as important to carriers as price, MGE designed the product to complement small-end products. With the STS, MGE UPS Systems can target small to medium-sized businesses that need to power network servers, Pooler said. “This would be just bigger than a laptop. For big-end customers, we offer something the size of a refrigerator.”
— Kelly Carroll
www.mgeups.com

PROPER RADIATION

If there's one thing that invokes the wrath of mobile phone users, it's dropped calls. One way to head off all those angry customers is monitoring wireless signal power.

“For [wireless] carriers, the signal that doesn't get radiated properly essentially means customers will not get the service they expect,” said Hal Asbridge, design engineer for Decibel Products.

Decibel's DB8822 integrated power monitor looks at forward and reflected power and records the power reflected back from an antenna to detect wireless power problems as they happen. The monitor sits in the RF power output line from a transmitter or a combiner. “The more [power] that gets radiated and the less reflected back, the better it is,” Asbridge said. “It's wasted power otherwise.”

The DB8822 is available in 30 MHz and 1000 MHz versions in power ranges from 100 to 1000 W. It calculates the voltage wave standing ratio coming from antennas and displays that information for users. The monitor also can detect high or low power output factors that prevent customers from getting the wireless coverage they need.

“Nothing's ever perfect in the real world,” Asbridge said. “There's always going to be a little bit of reflected power, and a lot of things can affect it.” But regulating the amount of radiated power may at least help defray some of those irritated customers.
— Amalia D. Parthenios
www.decibelproducts.com

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