Patent Application
20120270417
The present application relates to a computer power supply unit, and more particularly to an adapter that allows a power supply unit be added to a computer as a plug-and-play device to provide extra power supply for the computer and its other plug-and-play devices.
Note that the points discussed below may reflect the hindsight gained from the disclosed inventions, and are not necessarily admitted to be prior art.
A power supply unit (PSU) of a computer is the component that supplies power to the other components by converting general-purpose alternating current electric power to computer usable low-voltage direct current (DC) for other components of the computer. The most common computer power supplies are built to conform ATX form factors. ATX power supplies usually are designed to turn on and off using a signal from the motherboard, and provide support for standby mode.
Conventional computer PSU is a square metal box having a large bundle of wires for connectors emerging from one end, on the other end is a connector for AC power. Many attempts have been made to add more than one PSUs to a computer for added processing tasks and applications. But the control and management of the multiple PSUs remains to be a complicated task. For example, the US patent application US 2011/0068625 A1 introduces a dual electrical input line with an automatic transfer switch mechanism to manage multiple PSUs. US 2010/0064150 A1 discloses a design of baseboard management controllers for processing information and to control the plurality of PSUs.
Nevertheless the need to simply add a PSU to a pre-set computer for additional plug and play devices has not been addressed.
The present application discloses a simple and novel plug-and-play adapter (Add2Psu) that allows additional PSUs be added in a plug-and-play manner.
In one embodiment, an example Add2Psu PSU adapter includes at least one ATX connection and a DC Relay.
In another embodiment, an example Add2Psu PSU adapter comprises a printed circuit board disposed with a 4-pin connector, a 24-pin connector and a 12VDC Relay.
In another embodiment, an example Add2Psu PSU includes a relay, an ATX connector and a built-in PSU for power source.
The disclosed innovation, in various embodiments, provides a simple mechanism to add a PSU in a plug-and-play manner. The adaptor can be treated as an independent unit that can be mounted or loosely placed anywhere inside a computer. A PSU can plug on the adaptor and be controlled by the signals from the motherboard and conforms to the ATX form factors.
The disclosed invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of the invention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference, wherein:
The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to presently preferred embodiments (by way of example, and not of limitation). The present application describes several embodiments, and none of the statements below should be taken as limiting the claims generally.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and description and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, some areas or elements may be expanded to help improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and the claims, if any, may be used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,” “include,” “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, such that a process, method, article, apparatus, or composition that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, apparatus, or composition.
It is contemplated and intended that the design apply to other PSU connection protocols, for example the AT standard, but for clarity reasons, the ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) PSU standard is observed and used as an example.
A standard PSU includes a PC Main power connector that goes to the motherboard to provide it with power. The connector has 20 or 24 pins. One of the pins belongs to the PS-ON wire. A power supply with a 24-pin connector can be used on a motherboard with a 20-pin connector. In cases where the motherboard has a 24-pin connector, some power supplies come with two connectors, one with 20-pin and other with 4-pin) which can be used together to form the 24-pin connector.
A standard PSU also includes plurality of various 4-pin peripheral power connectors that go to the various disk drives, PCI cards, floppy drive or video cards of a computer.
A standard PSU may also include other auxiliary power connectors with various numbers of pins.
To conform to a standard PSU, an example Add2Psu generally comprises a 24-pin connector and/or a 4-pin connector so that a PSU may be plugged on to the adaptor via its 24-pin connector or one of its 4-pin connectors.
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As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a tremendous range of applications, and accordingly the scope of patented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplary teachings given. It is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
None of the description in the present application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope: THE SCOPE OF PATENTED SUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE ALLOWED CLAIMS. Moreover, none of these claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 USC section 112 unless the exact words “means for” are followed by a participle.
The claims as filed are intended to be as comprehensive as possible, and NO subject matter is intentionally relinquished, dedicated, or abandoned.
