10 May 2018
The National Oceanographic Centre runs two sites including this one in Southampton. Its lab and computer room support hundreds of researchers worldwide.
CENTIEL has completed a major refurbishment of the UPS systems at the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) in Southampton.
The company was appointed last year to supply new parts for the UPS systems which maintain the organisation’s laboratory and computer room that are said to support hundreds of users across the world.
The work involved replacing and maintenance of the battery, capacitors and fans.
CENTIEL says all this is an essential part of an ongoing UPS maintenance programme to ensure continued, reliable operation and safe upkeep of the system.
The company’s MD Michael Brooks says: “The installation was completed in two phases designed to minimise disruption and de-risk potential power interruption.
“The battery replacement was carried out first which involved moving eight tonnes of batteries. Four tonnes of the old batteries were stored on site until all work was completed, necessitating only one collection of hazardous waste.”
To enable the fans and AC capacitors to be replaced, Brooks says the UPS needed to be shutdown for maintenance bypass, and so it was essential that the duration of works were kept to a minimum. The work was completed and load-tested successfully on a Saturday, so staff and projects were not interrupted.
The National Oceanographic Centre undertakes research in large scale oceanography and ocean measurement technology innovation.
It supports the UK science community based in universities and smaller research institutes with scientific facilities, research infrastructure and irreplaceable data assets.
The NOC employs around 650 staff across two sites in Southampton and Liverpool. Both sites are co-located with leading UK universities.
CENTIEL is a Swiss-based UPS manufacturer and claims that its designers came up with the world’s first three phase transformerless UPS as well as the first three phase modular system.
In 2017, the firm acquired MPower UPS as its UK subsidiary (see p4, News, Dec 2017 issue).
