US 11,749,998 B2
Apparatus for directing power flow between multiple devices
Robert Shorten, Dublin (IE); Julia O'Connell, Dublin (IE); Barry Cardiff, County Dublin (IE); Giovanni Russo, Dublin (IE); Pietro Ferraro, Dublin (IE); and Paul Dermot Cuffe, Dublin (IE)
Assigned to UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN , NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, Dublin (IE)
Appl. No. 16/767,811
Filed by University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Dublin, Dublin (IE)
PCT Filed Nov. 29, 2018, PCT No. PCT/EP2018/083062
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 28, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/106114, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 6, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 1719884 (GB), filed on Nov. 29, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0376969 A1, Dec. 3, 2020
Int. Cl. H02J 7/00 (2006.01); B60L 53/14 (2019.01); B60L 53/12 (2019.01); B60L 55/00 (2019.01); B60L 53/66 (2019.01); B60L 53/60 (2019.01); B60L 53/67 (2019.01); B60L 53/10 (2019.01); B60L 53/16 (2019.01); H01R 13/639 (2006.01); H02J 3/14 (2006.01)
CPC H02J 7/0013 (2013.01) [B60L 53/10 (2019.02); B60L 53/12 (2019.02); B60L 53/14 (2019.02); B60L 53/16 (2019.02); B60L 53/60 (2019.02); B60L 53/665 (2019.02); B60L 53/67 (2019.02); B60L 55/00 (2019.02); H01R 13/6397 (2013.01); H02J 7/00032 (2020.01); H02J 3/14 (2013.01)] 51 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for directing power flow between multiple devices, the apparatus comprising:
one or more inlet ports for connection to one or more respective devices;
a plurality of outlet ports configured for supplying electrical power;
a computing device configured to route power from the one or more inlet ports to the plurality of outlet ports; and
a cable locking mechanism to prevent unauthorized users from manually disconnecting paired apparatuses, where the cable locking mechanism is configured to lock cables of devices downstream of the apparatus to the apparatus when the apparatus is disconnected from an upstream apparatus or a charging point.