System and method for in-rack generation of alternating current voltage during power grid outages

1. A power generation system for providing backup alternating current power to rack equipment disposed within an information technology (IT) rack during an outage of a power grid, comprising:

a housing being configured for installation in the IT rack; and

a high voltage direct current (HVDC) battery backup apparatus being disposed within said housing and being configured to provide direct-current output power; and

a power inverter apparatus being disposed within said housing, being configured to convert the direct-current output power into an alternating-current voltage and alternating between a standby mode and an active mode; and

one or more first switches coupling the rack equipment with the power grid and one or more second switches coupling the rack equipment with said power inverter apparatus,

wherein, when the power grid becomes available, said HVDC battery backup apparatus is charged via the power grid, said power inverter apparatus enters the standby mode and the rack equipment receives power from the power grid, whereby said first switches close and said second switches open to enable the rack equipment to receive the power from the power grid, and

wherein, when the power grid becomes unavailable, said power inverter apparatus enters the active mode and provides the alternating-current voltage to the rack equipment, wherein said first switches open and said second switches close in a time interval between one millisecond and twenty milliseconds, inclusive, of the power grid becoming unavailable to enable the rack equipment to receive the alternating-current voltage from said power inverter apparatus.

2. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said housing has a predetermined width for installation in a standard IT rack.

3. The power generation system of claim 2 , wherein said housing has a predetermined height between 3.5 inches and 10.5 inches, inclusive.

4. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said HVDC battery backup apparatus includes one or more lithium-ion cells.

5. The power generation system of claim 4 , wherein said lithium-ion cells comprise at least one lithium-ion cell of a cylindrical cell type, at least one of a lithium-ion cell of a prismatic cell type or a combination thereof.

6. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said power inverter apparatus remains active to convert the high-voltage direct-current output power into the alternating-current voltage without providing the alternating-current voltage to the rack equipment when the power grid becomes available.

7. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said power inverter apparatus comprises a direct current to unregulated three-phase alternating current power inverter apparatus that provides unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage to the rack equipment when the power grid becomes unavailable.

8. The power generation system of claim 7 , wherein the unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage comprises three-phase 208V Line-to-Line voltage with a frequency between 50 Hz and 60 Hz, inclusive.

9. The power generation system of claim 7 , wherein each phase of the unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage comprises a pulse width modulated sinusoidal waveform.

10. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said first switches again close and said second switches again open to enable the rack equipment to receive the power from the power grid when the power grid again becomes available such that said HVDC battery backup apparatus is recharged via the power grid and said power inverter apparatus is in the standby mode.

11. The power generation system of claim 1 , wherein said HVDC battery backup apparatus and said power inverter apparatus are coupled via an intermediate Hall sensor.

12. A method for providing backup alternating current power to first rack equipment disposed within a first information technology (IT) rack and to second rack equipment disposed within a second IT rack during an outage of a power grid, comprising:

powering the first and second rack equipment and charging a first high voltage direct current (HVDC) battery backup apparatus disposed in the first IT rack and a second HVDC battery backup apparatus disposed in the second IT rack via a power grid while the power grid is available; and

when the power grid is not available,

converting first direct-current output power supplied by the first HVDC battery backup apparatus into a first unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage, each phase of the first unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage including a pulse width modulated sinusoidal waveform, and powering the first rack equipment via the first unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage;

detecting an operational status of the second HVDC battery backup apparatus; based upon the detected operational status,

powering the second rack equipment via the first alternating-current voltage upon detection of a failure of the second power generation system; and

converting second direct-current output power supplied by the second HVDC battery backup apparatus into a second unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage, each phase of the second unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage including a pulse width modulated sinusoidal waveform, and powering the second rack equipment via the second unregulated three-phase alternating current voltage upon detection of no failure of the second power generation system.

13. A computer program product for providing backup alternating current power to first rack equipment disposed within a first information technology (IT) rack and to second rack equipment disposed within a second IT rack during an outage of a power grid, the computer program product being encoded on one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media and comprising:

instruction for powering the first and second rack equipment and charging first and second high voltage direct current (HVDC) battery backup apparatuses via a power grid while the power grid is available; and

when the power grid is not available,

instruction for converting first direct-current output power supplied by the first HVDC battery backup apparatus into a first alternating-current voltage via a first power inverter apparatus and powering the first rack equipment via the first alternating-current voltage;

instruction for detecting an operational status of the second HVDC battery backup apparatus; and

based upon the detected operational status,

instruction for powering the second rack equipment via the first alternating-current voltage upon detection of a failure of the second power generation system; and

instruction for converting second direct-current output power supplied by the second HVDC battery backup apparatus into a second alternating-current voltage via a second power inverter apparatus and powering the second rack equipment via the second alternating-current voltage upon detection of no failure of the second power generation system,

wherein the first HVDC battery backup apparatus and the first power inverter apparatus are disposed within the first IT rack, and

wherein the second HVDC battery backup apparatus and the second power inverter apparatus are disposed within the second IT rack.