carlosthejackle2001
New Member
Hi
Am currently doing a project for university (in Great Britain) and was wondering if anyone could help me out or put me in the right direction.
The project is on fuel cell technology as an alternative power supply when there is a black out.
The area that am looking into is detecting mains failure & switching to backup supply - I've found plenty information on UPs systems but am not looking for an integrated package. The problem is I can't find any circuits for detecting mains failure and/or switching to backup supply. Are there any?
The idea that I have come up with (with very limited knowledge on power electronics) is to just perhaps use a relay that is energised by the mains and when a black out occurs it changes contacts and backup supply is enabled - have been told that this would be inefficient and also a semiconductor alternative would be preferred so that no spark is created.
Any information/advice would be appreciated
Thanks
Am currently doing a project for university (in Great Britain) and was wondering if anyone could help me out or put me in the right direction.
The project is on fuel cell technology as an alternative power supply when there is a black out.
The area that am looking into is detecting mains failure & switching to backup supply - I've found plenty information on UPs systems but am not looking for an integrated package. The problem is I can't find any circuits for detecting mains failure and/or switching to backup supply. Are there any?
The idea that I have come up with (with very limited knowledge on power electronics) is to just perhaps use a relay that is energised by the mains and when a black out occurs it changes contacts and backup supply is enabled - have been told that this would be inefficient and also a semiconductor alternative would be preferred so that no spark is created.
Any information/advice would be appreciated
Thanks