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Perry Kuhns, chief engineer for KTMD is shown here with the UPS system that will insure uninterrupted power to the station in times of emergency.

Caterpillar Genset & Flywheel UPS System Keeps KTMD on the Air

For years, power outages were a major problem for television stations. And in a tropical storm-prone area like Houston, they were a major headache. In the past several years some stations have installed standby generators, but the problem of maintaining power until the gensets kicked in could only be solved by large, expensive battery systems.

Until 2002, KTMD Telemundo* in Houston transmitted without any backup system. Power outages were a frequent and problematic occurrence. Perry Kuhns, KTMD chief engineer, had studied this problem at length, and, when his station moved to a new 2000- foot transmission tower in Missouri City, he decided to do something about it.

Kuhns contracted with Mustang Power Systems for a 1250 kW Caterpillar 3512 generator set with a 900 kva flywheel UPS (uninterruptible power supply). This package was a departure from the norm, but the KTMD engineer knew the flywheel UPS would give his genset plenty of time to come on line, be less expensive than batteries in the long run AND would fit into the area available at the Richland Tower transmission site.

He and Mustang rep Josh Kramer worked very closely to ensure KTMD’s transmitters would dovetail with the new backup system. "My decision to go with Mustang was based on the advantage of having one supplier that would provide me all the equipment that I wanted, when I needed it," says Kuhns. "I was under a tight deadline; I doubt I’d have made it if I hadn’t had that close working relationship."

KTMD’s generator/UPS package backs up a new Thales 40kW digital transmitter along with a new 200kw cabinet analog transmitter. A crowbar thyratron circuit protects the expensive RF transmitter tubes from arcing, which can be caused by power surges. When such arcing is detected, the high voltage power supply is immediately shorted out. This can create serious problems for a battery UPS backup, which was another reason for selecting the flywheel UPS. In KTMD’s system, the flywheel UPS automatically goes into static bypass, sending the surge to the power line, then immediately comes back on line. According to Perry Kuhns, "There are always a lot of "crowbars" when you’re getting a new system up and running. So far, it’s worked perfectly. Some of my peers in this business were skeptical as to how this would turn out. I’m real happy with what I’ve put in."

*Telemundo is a Spanish-speaking network headquartered in Miami (recently acquired by NBC), with 15 television stations across the United States.

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