Adapters for rack-mounted computing equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10765030-B2
Application number	US-201615165590-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2016
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

Provided is an adapter for rack-mounted computing equipment, the adapter including: a chassis; two mounts coupled to the chassis, each of the two mounts having a respective hole shaped to receive and support rack-mountable computing equipment, wherein centers of the holes are between 460 and 470 mm (millimeters) apart from one another in a side-to-side direction of the chassis; two members extending from front of the chassis, the two members being less than 18 mm tall and being between 530 and 550 mm apart in the side-to-side direction; a channel extending at least half a distance along the chassis in a front-to-back direction, the channel defining a volume configured to hold cables extending from a back side of the chassis to a front side of the chassis; and a bus-bar connector mount configured to position a bus-bar connector extending from a back of the chassis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An adapter for rack-mounted computing equipment, the adapter comprising:
a chassis;
two mounts coupled to the chassis, each of the two mounts having a respective hole shaped to receive and support rack-mountable computing equipment, wherein centers of the holes are between 460 and 470 mm (millimeters) apart from one another in a side-to-side direction of the chassis;
two members extending from a front of the chassis, the two members being less than 18 mm tall and being between 530 and 550 mm apart in the side-to-side direction;
a channel extending at least half a distance along the chassis in a front-to-back direction, the channel defining a volume configured to hold cables extending from a back side of the chassis to a front side of the chassis; and
a bus-bar connector mount configured to position a blind-mate bus-bar connector extending from a back of the chassis to mate with vertical or horizontal bus-bars in a back of a rack;
wherein the blind-mate bus-bar connector is configured to be secured to the bus-bar connector mount, and the blind-mate bus-bar connector is configured to provide a power connection to the rack-mounted computing equipment through the mating with the vertical or horizontal bus-bars.

2. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein:
the channel terminates in a face plate having openings for at least two different kinds of connectors at a front of the chassis.

3. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein:
the channel has an opening of at least 40 mm in a front-to-back direction on an interior side of the channel in a back half of the adapter.

4. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein:
the chassis is integrally formed from a monolithic body of material.

5. The adapter of claim 4 , wherein the chassis is formed from a sheet of metal having a generally cross-shape with extended arms.

6. The adaptor of claim 5 , wherein the channels are formed by bending the arms upward to form a left panel and a right panel of the chassis thereby placing ends of the arms proximate a bottom surface of the chassis generally perpendicular to the left and right panels.

7. The adaptor of claim 6 , wherein the arms include tabs bent back at a 90 degree angle configured to be spot welded to the bottom of the chassis.

8. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the chassis is formed from a single sheet of cut and bent sheet metal having an anticorrosive coating.

9. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the mounts has an array of the holes extending in a direction generally orthogonal both to the side-to-side direction and to the front-to-back direction.

10. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising the bus-bar connector, wherein the bus-bar connector is configured to have a single degree of freedom relative to a rack as the chassis is slide backward into the rack.

11. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising tabs extending from a rear of the chassis, on each side of the chassis.

12. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the two mounts are asymmetrically disposed within the chassis in the side-to-side direction.

13. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the two mounts each comprise an array of holes, each of the holes being oriented in the front-to-back direction, each of the holes being a generally square hole with slides of between 12 and 14 mm, each array having a hole-to-hole pitch of between 16 and 17 mm.

14. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of fluid-flow holes on at least one side of the bus-bar connector mount shaped to pass a cooling fluid flowing between a front of the chassis and the back of the chassis.

15. The adapter of claim 14 , wherein at least some of the fluid-flow holes are generally rectangular holes having at least some rounded corners.

16. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising three bus-bar connector mounts arrayed along the back of the chassis.

17. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising another channel extending along a front-to-back length of the adapter, the two channels spanning an interior volume configured to receive a 19-inch server.

18. The adapter of claim 17 , wherein the other channel has at least 3 generally square holes arrayed along the length of the other channel.

19. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising:
means for providing front-side data access;
means for providing back-side power.

20. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising:
at least three different types of cables disposed within the channel.

21. The adapter of claim 1 , comprising:
a rack comprising a plurality of adapters arrayed in the rack.

22. The adapter of claim 21 , comprising:
a plurality of computing devices mounted in the plurality of adapters.

23. The adaptor of claim 1 , wherein:
the channel is defined, at least in part, by metal on at least four sides of the channel along at least part of the length of the channel.

24. The adaptor of claim 1 , comprising:
the blind-mate bus-bar connector secured to the bus-bar connector mount, wherein:
the blind-mate bus-bar connector is a self-aligning connector configured to establish an electrical connection between a computing device in the chassis and at least some of the vertical or horizontal bus-bars as the chassis is slide backward into the rack,
during installation, the blind-mate bus-bar connector is configured to have only one degree of freedom relative to the rack and zero degrees of freedom relative to the chassis, and
the bus bars are vertical bus bars that extend linearly across receptacles for multiple computing devices in multiple U's of the rack.

Assignees

• Vapor Io Inc

Inventors

• White Steven
• Velander Nick

Classifications

• H05K7/1489

  characterized by the mounting of blades therein, e.g. brackets, rails, trays (H05K7/1491 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/1492 Primary

  having electrical distribution arrangements, e.g. power supply or data communications · CPC title