UPS for an office (school assignment)

[Chrknu]

Hello good people,

I'm new here and I don't know if this is an accepted use of this forum. Please let me know if it's not and I will of course delete this topic. I'm also not a native English speaker, so just ask if anything in my post is unclear!

In my studies to become an electrical teacher I have gotten an assignment to select a UPS for an office. The assignment is pretty open ended and doesn't have a lot of information, so I can choose the framework/boundaries myself, but I want to make a good paper, so I'm trying to do a little research. 

The assignment is basically this: 

A customer wants an UPS that can handle 10kW for an Office that spans two floors. Select an UPS that suits the needs of the customer and make a drawing of how it can be installed. 

Since the text mentions it's an office, I'm assuming what needs to be powered for a while, in case of a power outage, is computers, phones, lights and probably some server functions. 

So in this imaginary situation I need to plan a solution for a UPS-system that will automatically keep the power on if the power fails, and make sure that the office can finish up their job within a certain time limit. 

For my assignment I have decided this: 

* The battery of the UPS needs to be connected at all times, so that computers won't shut off right away if there's a power outage. (To my understanding, any Online UPS will handle this.)

* The office needs to be powered for 45 minutes with all the necessary functions (phones, PCs, lights and servers) after a power failure. All these functions should not be affected by this power outage in this time. The idea is that this is enough time to finish up what you are doing and be able to save everything, so that getting back to work when the power gets back on, is as seamless as possible. 

* There is no life & death involved, but the economic cost for the company is high in unexpected power problems. 

* Everything in this office is relatively modern (basically new standard office computers, LED lights, new servers)

What I wonder about:

* Where is the normal placement of a UPS the size mentioned in the assignment?

* UPS are labeled with kVA and not kW, so I will have to write a little about this in my paper. This is connected to the cos φ, but what is a normal cos φ for a modern office? If you know about common problems and solutions around this, please feel free to advice me! 

* How often does UPS's need service and battery replacements?

* Since it's mentioned the assignment mentions two floors, there might be something i have to be careful with about that. Length of cables? Advice me if anything comes to mind. 

* General problems and solutions with UPS-systems for offices - anything that I can write about.

I can provide drawings from the assignments, if that is necessary. 

Links to reliable sources would also be appreciated! 

Thanks for any leads you can give me. And thank you for your help! 🙂

[BillP]

@Chrknu 

You should contact local sales support. They will assist you with selection and design of the correct solution to meet your needs. 

Local sales support contact information will be found at this link.

https://www.apc.com/us/en/support/contact-us/

You may need to change the region in the upper left of the contact us web page.