Introduction

+ Power System is one of the main sectors in a

telecom organization.
+ Input power of Telecom equipment may be: DC 24/
-48/ 60 V
+ In GP, we use -48 V in most of the cases.
+ So our job is:
1. To ensure constant DC power for the equipment,
2. To ensure distortion less, surge protected, safe AC input
power.
Why DC and not AC Power Supply?
A filter for all the noise (EMC, surges etc) present on
the AC power lines.
All telecom equipment (PABX, Base Stations, Main
Switches) have to operate when the AC supply
(mains) is absent.
The telecom equipment have to be supplied by
stored energy while the AC supply (mains) is absent.
Batteries are today the cheapest and most efficient
way to store electrical energy, and can only be
charged by DC.
The Principle of Telecom Power
System

M
o
d
e
m
Power system controller
DC load
AC load
LVD
(option)
User
AC
distribution
1...n
rectifiers
1...n batteries
5 min....24 hours
Mains
DC/DC
Converters
DC
distribution
Inverters
R
e
l
a
y
s
~
~
~
Rectifier: DC Power Source
O DC power plant that converts alternating current to direct current is
called rectifier
O There are actually two types of rectifier system
a. Thyristor controlled rectifier
b. Switch mode rectifier
O For telecom equipment it is mostly recommended to use SMPS based
rectifier or Switch mode rectifier.
O The basic principle of Thyristor and SMPS rectifier are
1. In Thyristor controlled 220V AC supply is directly fed to a step
down transformer as per required (say 220V AC to 48V AC) than the
bridge diode and capacitor is used for DC and filtering and in SMPS
system 220V AC supply is directly converted to 220 V DC by bridge
diode and then high frequency transformer is used for chopping for
converting DC
2. In thyristor controlled system DC out put depends on pulse domain
of thyristor but SMPS system DC output depends on frequency domain
of frequency transformer.
3. In thyristor the efficiency is only 60% due to huge core loss of step
down transformer but SMPS system the efficiency is 100% as there is
no core loss

Rectifier: SMPS System
The main criteria of SMPS system are:
O SMPS based which means Switch Mode Power Supply,
O It is modular based system and all the modules are connected
with parallel to each other.
O Auto ability to ensure float / boast voltage on the battery.
O Ability to generate different external alarms like Mains Fail,
Module Fail etc.
O It has a master module or intelligent module or head of the
rectifier which has the full controlling ability of the rectifier
system and it is called Alarm Module or Master controller unit.
O It works in big window range of AC supply. Specially SMPS
system gives DC out put 100% in the AC input range from
200V-230V and DC output gets 80% from AC range 180V-250V
and DC output gets 50% from AC range 85V-300V.And beyond
this limit SMPS system automatically gets switched off for
safety.
Pictorial View of the SMPS Rectifier
Pictorial View of the SMPS Module
What is Modular ?
In SMPS system, all the rectifier modules are easily
plug in and plug out device like above.
These module are parallel connected on the PC board
inside the system.
What is Master Module ?
It controls the out put voltage of all the rectifier modules
It generates the alarm and disconnect the system beyond
the limit
Basic Connection comparison
between AC & DC
+ In AC system there is no polarity. So we can
connect any of the single phase equipment in any
way with phase and neutral . But in DC system, we
have to ensure the polarity either positive or
negative.
+ In AC system neutral is always common and PDB
neutral is actually the grounding of the LT
transformer from where we get the supply. But
incase of DC, the positive(+) is the grounding or
common and negative is the phase for the DC
equipment.
+ Thats why in AC, fuse or MCB is connected on
phase which is live point not in the neutral. And in
the same way in DC, fuse or MCB is connected on
negative terminal which is live or active point and
not in positive terminal.
Rectifier VS Battery On Telecom
In telecom system, rectifier is used to give DC
supply to telecom equipment and at the same time
rectifier charges the battery which is used for back
up purpose of telecom equipments.
Battery is also DC and it takes DC current to get
charged.
Battery is very sensitive. So for battery, float and
boast voltage should be ensured for proper health
of battery.
SMPS rectifier system ensures those voltage limits.
Temperature is also a big factor to keep the good
health of the battery and to ensure a good back up
for the equipment in case of power failure.
SMPS system also control that temperature
compensation limit.

Rectifiers charge control
Charge control
Float charge
Temperature compensation
Boost charge
(Current based)
Equalize
(periodic)
Charge control (Contd.)
Float charge
Keep cell voltages of batteries on correct level defined by
battery manufacturer.
Also load requires suitable voltage level.
Boost charge
Speed up recharging process.
Used ONLY for lead acid batteries
Temperature compensation
Reduce the aging process caused ambient temperature.
Prevent possible thermal-runaway due to high ambient
temperature.
Equalize
Equalize voltage differences between cells, which can be
over 200 mV especially in new batteries.
Used mainly for maintenance free batteries.

Boost charge
Activated, when Ibattery > Istart
Deactivated, when Ibattery < Istop
Rectifiers battery functions
Battery functions
Low voltage disconnection
Battery monitoring
Battery charge current
limitation
Battery test
Current difference
Middle point measurement
Battery: The back-up power
; In case of AC main power unavailability back-up batteries are used in GP
network.
; The batteries have the following specifications:
Battery type : VRLA ( Valve Regulated Lead Acid Battery)
Rated charging current
Charging current = C/10 per battery [C = AH]
(Means when battery will discharge 80% of its capacity then if 30 amp
DC current is feeding to battery then it takes 10 hours to get charged
of that battery at 20
o
C)
Life span : 5 to 10 years
AH rating : 300 to 500 AH
Cyclic rate: 1000 cycle at 80% DOD (Depth of discharge)
Ambient temperature: 27
0
C
; Various types of batteries are used in telecom network such as: AGM
(Absorptive glass mat ), VRLA, Celled Lead Acid battery of rating 12V-
300AH, 6V-155AH, 4V-280AH or 2V-330 AH of mono block of different
ampere rating.
; For telecom purpose acid battery is never used as it will creates H
2
gas
which creates corrosion on the expensive equipments
; In AGM or VRLA battery discharge gas rate is only 1% but in case of acid
battery the discharge gas rate is about 50%
Pictorial View of the batteries
Battery current definition:
Battery current is positive => Battery is charging
Battery current is negative=> Battery is discharging
Battery connection scheme
In DC system battery may be connected in series ,
parallel or combination of series and parallel
connection.
For series connection always positive (+) of one
battery block will be connected with negative(-) of
other battery block.
For parallel connection always positive (+) of one
battery bank will be connected with positive (+) of
other battery bank and negative (-) to negative (-)
port.
Series connection is used to increase the voltage
level and parallel connection is used to increase the
ampere-hour (AH) rating of the battery.
Battery connection scheme (12 V each)

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300A
H
-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300A
H
-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300AH

-- +

12V,
300A
H
-- +
-
+
48V,300AH
48V,300AH
48V,300AH
Whole system = 48V , 300AH
Battery connection scheme (2 V each)
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Whole system = 48V , 330AH
AC Input Power
Normally in BTS premises of GrameenPhone 8 KVA
load has been ensured for rectifier unit , for air-
conditioning unit and for the lighting load from PDB.
In some important & remote sites we have permanent
medium capacity (20-30 KVA) auto-generator.
Each maintenance group has 2/3 mobile small
capacity (7.5 KVA) mobile generators which they take
to the site by car in case of long time power outage.
Control in the AC input
To distribute the loads: Distribution board.
To provide safety of the equipment: Grounding.
To protect from the lightning: Lightning Arrester.
To keep in a specific range: Voltage stabilizer.
To provide uninterrupted AC power: UPS.
To provide pure sinusoidal AC: Online UPS.
To protect from the surge in the input line: Surge
protector.
Distribution board
Grounding
As power condition of our country is very vulnerable, proper
grounding is very important to the sensitive & expensive
telecom equipment.
Recommendations about proper grounding:
- 1. Grounding resistance should be less than 1
- 2. There should be two separate grounding: One for power
equipment and another for telecom equipments
- 3. There should be at least one TEC (Transient earth clamp)
between two separate grounding bar whose properties should
be
100 kA 8/20 s surge rating
Automatic reset after operation
Robust , housing for extended outdoor use
Provides equipotential bonding in transient condition only
- 4. The ground enhancement material (GEM) (If needed)
should be used which has the ability to artificially improve the
ground resistance and impedance
Lightning Arrester
Lightning arresters are designed to safely channel a
lightning strike to ground without damaging
equipment.
Features of Lightning Arrester:
=Large capability of lightning pass flow, up to 100KA
=Low restricted voltage
=Quick response speed (<25ns)
=More variety specifications, able to meet the
requirements of multi-layer protection.
=Have advantage of traditional lightning rod that
attracts lightning current and lead it to ground and
decrease the amplitude of lightning current and slope
of the wave crest at the same time. So the damage of
lightning stroke is minimized.
=Large capabilities of lightning pass flow.
Voltage stabilizer
=V.S. are needed to stabilize the voltage if it's out of
some specific range (below or above) which is
required to operate the equipments.
=In Bangladesh, the voltage condition is very unstable.
So we have to suffer tremendously due to voltage,
specially low voltage problem.
=Previously we used relay type V.S. But now we use
servo type.
=We use the V.S of the following ranges:
120-270 V (1 phase),
100-270 V (1 phase),
70-270 V (1 phase),
220-400 V (L-L) (3 phase)
UPS
} It is very important to supply an uninterrupted, surge & spike-
free, pure sine wave ac supply for the proper operation of many
important & sensitive equipments like servers.
} If there is a spike or harmonic component in the supply, the
servers can crash anytime & that will be a total disaster.
} So we use online server for this purpose.
} The basic principle of the online UPS is:

Dynamic
Bypass
Inverter DC to DC
Converter
Battery
Rectifier/
PFC
Battery
Charger
TVSS and
EMI/ RFI
Filters
Input Output
Surge protector
=It was observed that 80% of the faults related to the
power system are the resultant of input power
problem.
=At rainy season, the thundering strike and power
surges come to the equipment end and lots of highly
expensive equipment burnt out specially the rectifier
modules.
=We use standard surge protectors to reduce the fault
rate.
=Features of the ideal surge protector:
o Lowest let-through voltage.
o Low dV/dt characteristic (rate of voltage rise).
o Highest over-voltage withstand.
o Highest surge rating.
o Longest life.


Shunt vs. Series protection
SHUNT
SERI ES
Higher let-through voltage
Wavefront unaltered
Energy diversion only
Sized independent of load
current
Point-of-entry - coarse protection
+ Lower let-through voltage
+ Wavefront slowed (low)
+ Energy diverted and filtered
+ Sized based on load current
+ Essential for electronics,
+ Computing & comms equip.

The surge protector we are using
For suitability & cost effectiveness we are using only
shunt type of surge protector in our BTS.
These devices are the sets of two types of
equipments:
1. Three phase to neutral surge suppressor:
Phase to neutral suppressors make a channel to
bypass the surge if the voltage accedes a certain
limit. It performs the job by using a protection device
like MOV Tech which is normally open but turned into
a short path sensing the surge.
2. One neutral to earth surge diverter: Neutral
to Surge Diverter is basically a gas-filled spark gap
without blow-out vent. It provides the protection
against the penetration of lightning currents into the
electrical system.

External Alarm
^Mains fail
^Rectifier Module Fail
^Battery Disconnect Pre Alarm
^Temperature Alarm
^Low/ high Voltage Alarm
^Generator Running Alarm
^Water Alarm
^Door Open Alarm

Cooling/ Air Conditioner
Temperature control is an important issue for the
proper operation & higher life-time of the telecom
equipments.
Normally we maintain 20-25 C temperature.
We normally use 1.5/ 2 tons capacity window type
A/C.
Sometimes we use split type of A/C.
Where necessary, we use 2 A/C of 1.5/ 2 tons
capacity.
Contribution of power in outage
Everyone knows how vulnerable is the power
condition of Bangladesh.
So though we try to ensure proper back-up for our
BTS, External power has a big contribution in the
outage.

0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Outage in hours
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month
Month-wise Outage due to power
Year 2002 Year 2003
Conclusion
Though in a telecom organization, power system is
not the main field, but its one of the primary sector.
If power system is not a sound & perfect one, the
whole system has to suffer.
Lots of research, experiment & improvement are
happening in the large industry of telecom power
system every day.
There is huge scope to build a career in this sector if
anyone is interested & dedicated.