Patent ID: 7701083

Claim:
An electrical power distribution system, comprising: a) a plurality of workstations, each workstation including i) an elevated work surface supported above a floor; ii) a power input receptacle having DC and AC inputs spaced apart on the power input receptacle; iii) a power output receptacle having DC and AC outputs spaced apart on the power output receptacle; iv) a local energy storage device for storing DC power at the respective workstation; and v) a router connected to the local energy storage device and having a switching assembly and a local controller for switching the switching assembly between a pair of switched states; and b) a master controller for sharing DC power among all the workstations, the master controller having a plurality of inputs connected to a plurality of external DC sources external to the workstations, and a control output connected to the local controller at each workstation, the master controller being operative for controlling each local controller to conduct DC power from any of the external DC sources to any one of the local energy storage devices in one of the switched states of a respective switching assembly connected to the one local energy storage device, and to conduct stored DC power away from any one of the local energy storage devices in a respective workstation to all other workstations needing DC power in the other of the switched states of the respective switching assembly connected to the one local energy storage device.