Using UPS for Path of Egress Equipment

[FaradayFF]

Greetings,

Has anyone on here used UPS as emergency power supply for powering VFDs /fans and smoke dampers for pressurized stairwell in high rise buildings? I think more common scheme would be to have utility and genset as a backup, just wondering if UPS has been historically reliable for this application.

Thanks,
EE

 

[hmspe]

Many times, but always units made specifically for the purpose and with UL 924 listings. Mostly Iota Engineering IIS systems lately, but there are many other vendors. Before LED was common I used large units, mostly Lithonia, although again there are other vendors.

 

[ron]

We have done it once using UL 924 systems.
It was for a relatively small system so the inverter didn't have to be oversized too much to accommodate the VFD harmonics.

 

[steve66]

Not sure offhand what the run time requirements are for smoke fans, but that might be another limiting factor.