Telecommunication infrastructures, radio links, FM and TV repeaters, and transmission stations often operate in particularly demanding environmental conditions and remote locations, where service continuity is an essential requirement.
In these contexts, power quality plays a crucial role. Overvoltages, indirect lightning strikes, conducted disturbances, and insulation faults can compromise the operation of equipment, causing service interruptions and high maintenance and recovery costs.
To meet these requirements, IREM has developed the AI Series Integrated Power Supplies, solutions designed to ensure protection, safety, and reliability in telecommunications installations. These units can be installed in standard 19” racks and integrate the main electrical power protection and distribution functions into a single system.
Why is personnel safety a fundamental requirement?
Telecommunication installations require periodic installation, maintenance, and inspection activities carried out by qualified personnel.
To ensure maximum operational safety, equipment must be designed according to criteria that limit access to live parts and guarantee high levels of electrical insulation.
The AI Series Integrated Power Supplies are also available in double-insulation (Class II) configurations and incorporate protection, disconnection, and signalling devices designed to enhance the safety of operation and maintenance activities.
What are the main threats to service continuity?
Among the most frequent causes of failure in telecommunication installations, lightning-related events represent one of the most critical risk factors.
Even when lightning does not directly strike the site, electromagnetic coupling phenomena and the propagation of surges through power lines can generate damaging effects several kilometres away from the point of impact.
The geographical location of transmission sites—often installed in mountainous or highly exposed areas—makes these infrastructures particularly vulnerable to atmospheric events.
Ensuring service continuity therefore requires protection systems specifically designed to mitigate these phenomena and preserve the correct operation of the equipment.
How can equipment be effectively protected against overvoltages?
The AI Series Integrated Power Supplies incorporate a self-extinguishing spark-gap lightning current arrester with magnetic blow-out technology, specifically designed to protect against impulse currents generated by lightning discharges.
This technology is distinguished by:
- High triggering voltage accuracy;
- Automatic interruption of the arc current at the end of the transient event;
- Resistance to impulse currents up to 100 kA (10/350 μs);
- Self-regenerating capability, eliminating the need for periodic replacement after surge events.
These characteristics ensure high system reliability even in particularly severe environmental conditions.
How is power quality ensured?
The AI Series Integrated Power Supplies include an Isolation transformer compliant with EN 61558-2-4, equipped with an electrostatic shield between the windings.
In addition to providing galvanic isolation between the power supply network and the load, the transformer helps attenuate both common-mode and differential-mode conducted disturbances, improving the quality of the power supplied to sensitive telecommunication equipment.
Galvanic isolation is one of the most effective solutions for increasing system immunity to electrical disturbances and reducing the risk of malfunctions.
How can the status of the installation be monitored?
To further increase system reliability, the AI Series Integrated Power Supplies incorporate an insulation monitoring device that continuously checks the condition of the electrical installation.
When the insulation level falls below the safety threshold, the system generates a remote alarm through a dedicated contact, allowing anomalies to be detected promptly and maintenance activities to be planned before they can develop into failures or service interruptions.
Why integrate multiple functions into a single solution?
Telecommunication sites often require a combination of reliability, installation simplicity, and reduced operating costs.
The AI Series Integrated Power Supplies combine protection, distribution, disconnection, and monitoring functions in a single unit, reducing installation space requirements, simplifying maintenance activities, and improving the overall management of the infrastructure.
A solution specifically designed to ensure Power Quality, service continuity, and equipment protection in the most critical telecommunications applications.
