Patent ID: 8896157

Claim:
A power supply for providing an output voltage to one or more computing devices comprising: a power conversion circuit for converting an input voltage to an output voltage; a first connector having a first plurality of power terminals and a first detecting terminal, the input voltage being supplied to the power conversion circuit via the first plurality of power terminals; a second connector having a second plurality of power terminals and a second detecting terminal, wherein, when the first and second connectors are interconnected, each power terminal of the first plurality of power terminals is interconnected with a corresponding power terminal of the second plurality of power terminals and the first detecting terminal is interconnected with the second detecting terminal, and wherein the first and second detecting terminals are positioned such that when disconnecting the first connector from the second connector, the interconnection between the first and second detecting terminals is disconnected before the interconnections between the first and second plurality of power terminals are disconnected, the second plurality of power terminals providing the input voltage to the first plurality of power terminals; and a control unit having an input for receiving an input signal, the control unit further outputting a control signal for controlling the operation of the power conversion circuit based on the input signal, wherein when the input signal has a first value, the control signal causes the power conversion circuit to output the output voltage, and when the input signal has a second value, the control signal causes the power conversion circuit to cease outputting the output voltage even when the input voltage is supplied to the power conversion circuit; wherein the input signal has the first value when the first and second detecting terminals are interconnected, whereas the input signal has the second value when the first and second detecting terminals are disconnected such that, when disconnecting the first and second connectors, the disconnection of the first and second detecting terminals causes the input signal to be the second value prior to the disconnection of the first and second plurality of power terminals thereby causing the power conversion circuit to cease outputting the output voltage before the first and second plurality of power terminals are disconnected.