New Industry Products

Class 1E Nuclear Digital Process Power UPS System

June 06, 2017 by Jeff Shepard

AMETEK Solidstate Controls (SCI) today introduced its first safety-related, pwm-based, UPS systems designed to meet the highly specialized and rigorous requirements of the nuclear power industry. The Nuclear Digital ProcessPower® (NDPP) surpasses other UPS systems on the market by providing a smaller footprint, higher levels of self-diagnostics, enhanced system monitoring, and control.

The NDPP UPS is a true on-line, double conversion system that provides continuous, clean, regulated power for critical ac loads. This unit is a single-phase, 5- to 100-kVA, though additional sizes are available.

This UPS is designed specifically for process control and industrial application, with 40-year qualified design life. The NDPP systems utilize state-of-the-art pwm technology, incorporating high power IGBT semiconductors, and digital control for enhanced communications, monitoring, control, and diagnostics capabilities.

Also essential to the NDPP design is the use of fiber optic cables for control and communications, allowing for better isolation and faster, more accurate signals between processors. The NDPP designs also include a LCD panel and user-friendly touchscreen display for ultimate ease in user control.

"The NDPP utilizes the same reliable microprocessor design techniques found in our field-proven Industrial pwm product families. The key difference is in the digital control and monitoring software, which have been developed specifically for safety-related applications and have undergone an intensive Verification and Validation (V&V) evaluation process to meet the exacting standards of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)," comments Dan Huey, SCI product manager.

SCI's NDPP Class 1E UPS system is designed and tested in accordance with the NRC audited 10CFR50, Appendix B Software Quality Assurance program, which conforms to IEEE standard 1012-2004 Standard for Software Verification and Validation, and other NRC-endorsed standards.

"To ensure maximum security against cyber-attacks, measures were taken to develop and test software and firmware exclusively within a secure environment. During operation, the NDPP 1E UPS product line offers advanced monitoring, data capturing, and event logging capability without the need for external communication with other plant safety systems. Those design considerations were implemented to maintain safe and secure operation for nuclear safety-related applications," adds Huey.

The addition of the NDPP to its already proven ferroresonant UPS and inverter systems and battery chargers gives SCI a formidable line-up of products to meet any situation in the Nuclear 1E and non-1E market. Industry demand for a UPS unit with superior performance and smaller footprint, coupled with state-of-the-art system monitoring, control and diagnostics, has been met by SCI with its NDPP product-line.

Enhanced safety features include an isolated user-interface and seismic bracing, along with the employment of emi suppression, and isolation transformers designed for a 40-year operational life.

Solidstate Controls has more than 40 years of proven experience supplying and servicing power protection products to more than 75 percent of the U.S. nuclear power generating stations as well as a large global footprint of commissioned equipment.

To demonstrate its commitment to the Nuclear Power Industry, SCI regularly sponsors a biennial Nuclear Owner's Group Conference at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Attendees from around the world discuss a myriad of topics from power plant design and safety, to battery monitoring, and a host of issues pertaining to the operation and power protection for their plants. The meeting to be held in Columbus this year on June 7-9 is the 9th edition of the event.