Patent ID: 7634667

Claim:
A power management system for use in a power-consuming system comprising: a plurality of power module bays each power module bay comprising a hot-plug connector comprising a plurality of pins and configured to connect to a power module; wherein the hot-plug connector installed in at least one of the plurality of power module bays is capable of interchangeably connecting to either an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) power module or a power supply unit (PSU) power module installed in that power module bay; a switch configured to connect at least one pin of a first hot-plug connector of a first power module bay of the plurality of power module bays with a pin of a second hot-plug connector of a second power module bay of the plurality of power module bays based in part on whether a PSU module or UPS module is connected to either the first or second hot-plug connector; and a power module interface that provides an electrical connection between power modules installed in the power module bays and one or more power buses in the power-consuming system.