Refueling station
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for fueling at least three fuel-cell-powered devices, each device having a profile and a fuel inlet, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing defining at least three device adaptor recesses, each device adaptor recess configured for accepting a device adaptor;
at least three fuel ports, each of the ports having an outlet;
at least three device adaptors each configured to fit within any of the three device adaptor recesses, including a first device adaptor, a second device adaptor and a third device adaptor, wherein each of the first, second, and third device adaptors are adjacent to one of the fuel ports and include a device recess for receiving a body of one of the devices, wherein the device recess of the first device adaptor has a shape that is disparate from the shape of the device recesses of the second and third device adaptors;
at least three seals, each seal disposed to releasably establish a sealed fluidic connection between the fuel inlet of one of the devices and the outlet of one of the fuel ports;
wherein each of the fuel ports are operative to dispense fuel when the inlet of the fuel-cell-powered device is in sealed engagement with the outlet of the at least one fuel port.
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Abstract
An apparatus for fueling a fuel-cell-powered device having a profile and a fuel inlet. The apparatus comprises at least one fuel port having an outlet and at least one adaptor associated with the fuel port. The adaptor is configured to receive the fuel-cell-powered device. Means for releasably and sealingly engaging the fuel inlet of the fuel-cell-powered device to the outlet of the fuel port are also provided. The outlet of the fuel port is operative to dispense fuel when it is in sealed engagement with the fuel inlet of the fuel-cell-powered device.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An apparatus for fueling at least three fuel-cell-powered devices, each device having a profile and a fuel inlet, the apparatus comprising:
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a housing defining at least three device adaptor recesses, each device adaptor recess configured for accepting a device adaptor; at least three fuel ports, each of the ports having an outlet; at least three device adaptors each configured to fit within any of the three device adaptor recesses, including a first device adaptor, a second device adaptor and a third device adaptor, wherein each of the first, second, and third device adaptors are adjacent to one of the fuel ports and include a device recess for receiving a body of one of the devices, wherein the device recess of the first device adaptor has a shape that is disparate from the shape of the device recesses of the second and third device adaptors; at least three seals, each seal disposed to releasably establish a sealed fluidic connection between the fuel inlet of one of the devices and the outlet of one of the fuel ports; wherein each of the fuel ports are operative to dispense fuel when the inlet of the fuel-cell-powered device is in sealed engagement with the outlet of the at least one fuel port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19)
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13. A method of fueling a fuel-cell-powered device having a profile and a fuel inlet, the method comprising:
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providing a fuel source; providing an apparatus including a housing defining at least three adaptor recesses, each adaptor recess configured for accepting a device adaptor; at least three fuel ports, each of the ports having an outlet and at least three device adaptors each configured to fit within any of the three device adaptor recesses, including a first device adaptor, a second device adaptor and a third device adaptor, wherein each of the first, second, and third device adaptors are adjacent to one of the fuel ports and include a device recess for receiving a body of a fuel-cell-powered device, wherein the device recesses of the first adaptor has a shape that is disparate from the shape of the device recesses of the second and third adaptors; releasably and sealingly engaging the outlet of one of the fuel ports with the fuel inlet of a first fuel-cell-powered device; and allowing fuel to flow from the engaged fuel port to the fuel-cell-powered device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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20. A refueling system for fueling fuel-cell-powered devices, the system comprising:
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a housing defining at least two adaptor recesses, each adaptor recess configured for accepting a device adaptor; at least two refueling ports, each of the ports include an outlet; a first device adaptor and a second device adaptor, wherein each of the first and second device adaptors are configured to be releasably held in either of the two adaptor recesses and wherein each of the first and second device adaptors define a device receptacle having a cross-section shaped to accept a fuel-cell-powered device and wherein the shape of the cross-section of the device receptacle defined by the first device adaptor is disparate from the shape of the cross-section of the device receptacle defined by the second device adaptor. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification