BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates generally to electrical outlets operable interchangeably with a combination of different types of mating plug connectors, and more specifically to a combination outlet assembly for an industrial power distribution unit.

Computer data center applications typically include a plurality of computer servers arranged in server racks or cabinets. Power distribution units (PDUs) are known to include a number of power outlets distributed along a chassis of the PDU for respective connection to components and equipment arranged on the server rack. The respective PDUs receive input power from the same power source or different power sources, and distribute output power to the power outlets provided. Power cords of equipment in the server racks or cabinets may be plugged in to the PDU. State of the art PDUs also intelligently facilitate remote management of power distribution to critical equipment, power metering and monitoring features both local and remote from the PDU, power outlet switching on/off and local and remote controls, alarm features detecting and alerting of certain operating conditions, and other sophisticated features allowing adaptation of the PDU for particular power system applications distributing power to specific electrical components and equipment.

A variety of different types of plug connectors for power cords are known for use with different devices in the server rack or cabinet that are desirably served by industrial power distribution units. As such, PDUs including so-called combination outlets have recently been introduced wherein the same power outlets in the PDU may be interchangeably used with different types of plug connectors in different arrangements. Conventional combination outlets for PDUs are disadvantaged in some aspects, however, and further improvements are desired to more completely meet the needs of the marketplace.

