International Journal of Electrical, Energy and Power System Engineering (Mar 2025)
Samsung Lithium Ion Battery for Uninterruptible Power Supply
Abstract
Samsung's energy storage systems for data centres are pioneering, being the first lithium-ion battery cabinets to meet stringent UL rack-level safety standards. Integrating an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) with an energy storage system is essential for ensuring reliable power to critical loads. Samsung lithium-ion battery systems are engineered to exceed the demands of large-scale UPS applications. This paper reviews, implements, and analyses Samsung lithium-ion batteries compared to lead-acid batteries, particularly with the Vertiv UPS system. A 400 kVA Vertiv UPS was connected to 17 Samsung SDI lithium-ion batteries in a robust rack configuration, each rated at 30.4 Vdc and 67 Ah. Simultaneously, a lead-acid battery setup consisting of forty 12V 67Ah batteries housed in a specialized cabinet was evaluated. A 360 kW resistive load was applied to the UPS output, and an external mains failure was simulated while measuring end-of-discharge time. Results showed that the Samsung SDI lithium-ion battery system reached a cut-off voltage of 393.5 VDC at 954.0 A, achieving 58 minutes of runtime, while the lead-acid system recorded 395.2 VDC at 962.0 A, lasting 49 minutes. These findings confirm the superior performance of lithium-ion batteries in UPS applications, reinforcing their role in data centre energy storage.
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