Advances in telecommunications technology have been a boon to many users. Newer, smarter, smaller and more sophisticated equipment is allowing customers to perform an expanding range of activities. In general, these systems are simpler to operate but are more complex technically. This technical complexity has led to a decline in field reliability, not because of inferior design, but because they have done their job so well. By condensing more functionality and processing power into a smaller physical space, design engineers have created equipment more susceptible to electrical interference. Electrical noise or interference disrupts, degrades and even destroys electronic equipment. By reducing the noise levels on the electrical distribution system to harmless levels, the field reliability can be made not to suffer. Proper power conditioning has proven to reduce field trouble call dramatically!

A local cell site experienced several periods where communication signals were lost. A power audit was done by Black & McDonald and On Power Systems to see if power quality was the cause of the 'downtime' - and it was subsequently confirmed.

Determining the right solution is often a challenge - monitoring with the right technology, a Dranetz-BMI PP1 proved to capture the power quality events that were causing problems - utility "capacitor switching" and outages, among others.

A two-pronged approached was used, TVSS and an on-line UPS. The TVSS, by Tyco's Raychem division, accomplished several objectives:

1. In-line (series), or parallel protection capabilities - in this case in-line

2. Maximum protection without degradation or damage, leaving the cell site exposed to future surges

The UPS provided traditional battery back up during an outage, as seen by the upper right graph. Equally important, it protected against the utility-caused "capacitor switching" transients as seen by the lower right graph, and referred to as "Low Frequency Oscillatory Transients" (LFOT) - the most dangerous and difficult to protect against. On Power's UPS's represent proven protection against these problems and are backed up by our verification abilities as a key value-added service to ensure reliability.