This invention concerns improvements relating to office power supplies and more particularly relates to a power distribution system for use with office furniture or other multiple work-station installations.

In open-plan environments, for example open-plan offices, the accessibility of electrical power over the entire working area can cause many problems, particularly in buildings which do not have suspended floors. Open-plan environments are often provided with complex power distribution networks and a large number of floor or ceiling power supply access points in order to make the positioning of electrical appliances less restricted. Inevitably, a large number of access points are required to provide the least restricting of arrangements and the provision of these tends to be very expensive. Furthermore, the provision of a large number of access points detracts from the overall appearance of the open-plan environment.

The use of large, multiple desk-type structures within open-plan office environments is common and an example of a conventional power supply arrangement for supplying electrical power to such a structure is

shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 shows a desk-type structure 1 comprising three work areas 2 to which local electrical power is supplied by the power supply arrangement 7. The arrangement 7 comprises several electrical multiplug power supply consoles 3, each console 3 providing a local access point to the power supply for each work area 2. The consoles 3 are directly or indirectly wired to a conventional 13 Amp electrical mains supply through floor boxes 4 which are provided at selected points of the office floor 5.

The power supply arrangement 7 as shown in Figure 1 has several problems inherent in its design. Firstly, it is labour intensive and costly in its installation. Secondly, the configuration of the desk-type structure 1 and its location in an office is, to a large extent, restricted by the location and number of floor boxes 4 provided about the office floor 5. In addition, if the work areas 2 are to be re-arranged, a significant amount of work is involved in disconnecting the multitude of electrical connections 6 between the consoles 3 and the floor boxes 4 and then reconnecting them after the re¬ arrangement has been carried out. Furthermore, the plurality of cables that constitute the electrical connections 6 can appear undesirably messy.

The present invention aims to overcome at least some of the above mentioned problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a power supply system for use with office furniture, said system comprising a primary power distributor connectable to a high-current mains supply and a plurality of secondary power distributors for supplying electrical power to a plurality of electrical office appliances, said secondary distributors being connectable to said primary distributor and said primary distributor being arranged to divide the high-current mains supply into a plurality of low-current power supplies for use with said secondary distributors. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a power supply system for use with electrical office equipment, said system comprising: a plurality of terminal elements connectable to said electrical office equipment; and a power distribution element connectable to a mains power supply, said power distribution element being connectable to said terminal elements and being arranged to distribute electrical current from the mains power supply to said terminal elements. Described in the following is an exemplary power supply system embodying the present invention in which

power to a multiple work-station location is routed into the respective location by means of a 240 Volt 32 Amp armoured cable which couples to a splitter box providing a plurality of fused 240 Volt 13 Amp outlets. The 240 Volt 13 Amp outlets are in turn coupled via disconnectable leads to respective multiple socket outlets conveniently located in consoles within the multiple work-station installation. As compared to the prior art arrangement of Figure 1, as hereinbefore described, the system of the invention is simpler and potentially much less costly in its installation and provides for a tidier and more efficient final office or other workplace environment. The above and further features of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims and, together with the advantages thereof, should become clear from consideration of the following detailed description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention which is given with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1, as aforementioned, is a schematic perspective view of a prior art arrangement for supplying power to a multiple desk-type structure;

Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of a

power supply system embodying the present invention connected to a multiple desk-type structure as shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a schematic showing of the power supply system of Figure 2.

Referring now to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings, a power supply system 10 for use with a multiple desk-type structure 11 comprises a centrally located splitter box 12 and five power supply consoles 13 which are distributed about the desk-type structure

11. The splitter box 12 is connected to the consoles

13 via detachable leads 14 and a high-current (AC) mains supply (not shown) is connected to the splitter box 12 via a heavy-duty power cable 15. The system is designed to provide electrical energy for running standard electrical office equipment (not shown) which can be driven from a 240

Volt 13 Amp mains supply. Accordingly, the splitter box 12, which is provided with the high-current mains power supply, functions to divide the high-current supply into several low-current supplies for use with the consoles 13. Typically, a single 32 Amp 240 Volt

(high-current) power supply is reduced to several 13

Amp 240 Volt low-current supplies which are individually fused as will be described hereinafter.

In Figure 2, the heavy-duty power cable 15 is

routed underneath the floor 16 to the high-current (AC) mains supply and is made accessible at the relevant location via a floor grommet 17. This is an elegant and low-cost way of supplying electrical power to the multiple desk-type structure 11 which overcomes or at least substantially reduces the problems associated with prior art power supply arrangements.

Alternatively, the heavy duty power cable 15 can simply be run along the floor 16 to an access point at the perimeter of the open-plan environment. Although running the cable 15 along the floor 16 is an inelegant solution, it does remove the need for expensive power distribution networks and their associated floor or ceiling boxes within the open-plan environment, thus substantially reducing the associated installation costs. Furthermore, it provides a far greater degree of flexibility in the positioning of the multiple desk structures 11.

Referring now to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings, the heavy-duty cable 15 is a flexible armoured cable. This type of cable provides a well protected but flexible exterior which is ideally suited for protecting users against the potential hazards associated with the provision of a high- current electrical supply.

Each console 13 includes several standard three

pin socket outlets 18 providing access to the 240 Volt

13 Amp power supply, and the individual socket outlets may if desired be switched. The consoles 13 are distributed about the desk-type structure 11 so that at least one console is available for each workspace as is shown in Figure 2.

The consoles 13 are linked either directly to the splitter box 12 or in series with other consoles 13 which connect back to the splitter box 12. The connector leads 14 incorporated between consoles 13 and between consoles 13 and the splitter box 12, are detachable and include Wieland type plugs 19 which mate with respective Wieland type sockets (not shown) provided in the consoles 13 and in the splitter box 12. If the multiple desk-type structure 11 is required to be re-arranged, then any new arrangement of workspaces can be facilitated by simply detaching connector leads 14 of particular lengths and substituting them with appropriately longer or shorter leads 14. Thus the use of detachable connector leads

14 provides for modular interconnection within the power supply system 10.

As aforementioned, the splitter box 12 divides a high-current power supply into several relatively low- current power supplies. The heavy-duty cable 15 is wired to one side of a terminal block (not shown)

provided within the splitter box 12, and the other side of the terminal block is connected to the low- current supplies. Each of the low-current supplies is fused at the splitter box 12 to a maximum current rating of 13 Amps. The fuses (not shown), each protecting the 13 Amp supply to a particular console 13 or series of consoles, are provided between the terminal block and the several low-current supplies and each fuse is held in a respective removable fuse holder 20 in order to facilitate simple fuse replacement. In addition, each of the sockets 18 may be individually fused to a maximum current rating of, say, 3 Amps in order to provide a greater degree of electrical safety. Having thus described the invention by reference to a particular embodiment, it is to be appreciated that the described embodiment is exemplary only and is susceptible to modification and variation without departure from the spirit or scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims. In particular, the present invention is not restricted to use of a 240 Volt supply and could, for example, be used with a 110, 120 or 220 Volt mains supply. Similarly, the maximum current values of the high-current and low- current supplies are not restricted to 32 Amps and 13 Amps respectively and could be different values

depending on the power supply requirements of the electrical appliances to be used with the system.