Acoustical attenuator in storage array to improve performance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10468010-B2
Application number	US-201715590673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2017
Priority date	May 9, 2017
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

An apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a plurality of flow guiding structures spatially aligned in a first row, each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprising a fin-shape to funnel airflow at a trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures. The apparatus also includes a plurality of flow separating structures spatially aligned in a second row interleaved between each of the plurality of flow guiding structures, each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprising a fin-shape configured to split airflow received from the plurality of flow guiding structures.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of flow guiding structures spatially aligned in a first row, each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprising a fin to funnel airflow at a trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures; and
a plurality of flow separating structures spatially aligned in a second row partially interleaved between each of the plurality of flow guiding structures, each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprising a fin configured to split airflow received from the plurality of flow guiding structures, wherein a leading edge of each of the plurality of flow separating structure is aligned with a midpoint of a distance between two adjacent storage arrays.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprises a supporting rod encased by a sound absorber material.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a supporting rod encased by a sound absorber material.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fin of each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprises a rounded leading edge and a sharp trailing edge.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the rounded leading edge comprises a supporting feature.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a sharp trailing edge.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a rounded trailing edge.

8. A computing device comprising:
a housing having an inlet side, an outlet side, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall, the first sidewall and the second sidewall extending from the inlet side to the outlet side;
at least one row of drive bays extending at least partially from the first sidewall to the second sidewall, the at least one row of drive bays configured to receive a plurality of hard disk drives and to provide a plurality of gaps between the plurality of hard disk drives;
a plurality of flow guiding structures disposed between the at least one row of drive bays and the outlet side, wherein:
each of the plurality of flow guiding structures is directly coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of hard disk drives, and
each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a fin to funnel airflow through the plurality of gaps between the plurality of hard disk drives to a trailing edge; and

a plurality of flow separating structures interleaved between each of the plurality of flow guiding structures, each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprising a fin configured to split airflow received from the plurality of flow guiding structures.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprises a supporting rod encased by a sound absorber material.

10. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a supporting rod encased by a sound absorber material.

11. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the fin of each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprises a rounded leading edge and a sharp trailing edge.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the rounded leading edge comprises a supporting feature.

13. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a sharp trailing edge.

14. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a rounded trailing edge.

15. A storage array module, comprising:
a plurality of storage arrays;
a plurality of flow guiding structures spatially aligned in a first row, each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprising a fin to funnel airflow at a trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures, wherein each of the plurality of flow guiding structures is configured to directly couple to a corresponding one of the plurality of storage arrays; and
a plurality of flow separating structures spatially aligned in a second row partially interleaved between each of the plurality of flow guiding structures, each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprising a fin configured to split airflow received from the plurality of flow guiding structures.

16. The storage array module of claim 15 , wherein a leading edge of each of the plurality of flow separating structure is aligned with a midpoint of a distance between two adjacent storage arrays of the plurality of storage arrays.

17. The storage array module of claim 15 , wherein the fin of each of the plurality of flow separating structures comprises a rounded leading edge and a sharp trailing edge.

18. The storage array module of claim 17 , wherein the rounded leading edge comprises a supporting feature.

19. The storage array module of claim 15 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a sharp trailing edge.

20. The storage array module of claim 15 , wherein the trailing edge of each of the plurality of flow guiding structures comprises a rounded trailing edge.

Assignees

• Quanta Comp Inc

Inventors

• Chen Chao-Jung
• Huang Yu-Nien
• Chen Ching-Yu
• Wu liang-yu

Classifications

• G06F1/20

  Cooling means · CPC title

• G11B33/128

  of the plurality of recording/reproducing devices, e.g. disk drives, onto a chassis · CPC title

• G10K11/16

  Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general (G10K11/36 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G10K2210/11

  Computers, i.e. ANC of the noise created by cooling fan, hard drive or the like · CPC title

• F16L55/033

  Noise absorbers (F16L55/027 takes precedence) · CPC title