Inverter and battery testing for uninterruptible power systems

Abstract

The inverter of an uninterruptible power system is tested by turning on switches in the inverter at a selected test phase in each half-cycle of the AC input waveform so that the inverter provides a voltage which opposes the AC input voltage waveform during part of each half-cycle of the waveform. The resulting current drawn from the inverter battery, if any, is measured and its peak may be found. The peak battery current during each half-cycle is compared to maximum allowable peak currents to determine if an inverter failure has occurred. If the peak currents are lower than a maximum acceptable value, the test is repeated on a subsequent AC input waveform at a decreased test phase (a shorter time delay from the zero crossing of each half-cycle of the waveform) until the peak current in the first half-cycle is at a selected value, at which time the peak in the second half-cycle is checked to determine if it is within an acceptable range. If not, an inverter test failure is indicated. Inverter test failure is also indicated if repeated cycles during which the test phase is reduced fail to cause the first peak to reach the proper value and the test phase is finally reduced to a minimum allowable test phase. If the inverter has been tested and is found to be operating properly, a battery test can be conducted by selectively disconnecting the AC power system from the load, turning on the inverter for a selected period of time, and detrmining remaining available run time based on the battery voltage while the inverter was running.