What is the difference between UPS and inverter?

There are two important devices viz. UPS and inverter that are used extensively to provide backup supply to the electrical systems. As we know, today electricity has become a necessity because almost all of our day-to-day activities require electricity. Since, all the device such as mobiles, laptops, PCs, washing machines, coolers, ACs, etc. use electricity to work. If the electric supply gets down, it will greatly affect the operation of these devices. Therefore, to smoothly run these devices even after the cut out of electric supply, two electric power systems are designed named Inverter and UPS.

Basically, both UPS and inverter are used for the same purpose, i.e. backup power supply, but there are many differences between them. In this article, we will explain the differences between UPS and inverter in detail. For the reader’s reference, we also included a brief description of UPS and inverter which makes it is easy to understand the differences between them.

UPS stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply. As its name suggests, it is a device used to stop the interruption in the electric power supply caused to electrical devices during the cut out of electricity.

In actual practice, the UPS is mainly used with the computer and other IT systems to provide the electric power for the sufficient amount of time to save the data and safely shutdown the computer when sudden power cut occurs. The block diagram of a typical UPS is shown in Figure-1.

The main parts of a typical UPS system are: rectifier, battery, inverter and controller. The rectifier converts the AC supply in DC supply to charge the battery. The battery is connected to the inverter which converts the DC output of battery into AC and supply to the connected device or system. The controller is provided to control the operation of the entire system.

A UPS provides a backup of up to 10 to 15 minutes. Therefore, the UPS is mainly used to provide backup power to the electronic devices and IT systems that may get damaged with the sudden power failures.

Invert is a power electronic circuit that inverts the direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC). An inverter uses electric supply from an AC source to charge a battery. During the power failure, the inverter takes the DC supply from the battery, converts it into AC supply and provides the power supply to the electrical appliances. The block diagram of an inverter is shown in Figure-2.

The inverters are used to supply the domestic and commercial electric appliance like lamps, fans, coolers, etc. in case of power cut. Also, an inverter can provide backup for hours depending upon the battery capacity.