Systems and methods for damping a storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11058221-B2
Application number	US-201715678876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2017
Priority date	Aug 29, 2014
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

In an embodiment, an apparatus (e.g., for damping a motion of a drawer in a storage system) comprises a plate to pivotally attach to a first wall of a drawer, the plate comprising a pivot point about which the plate can pivot; a damped gear coupled to the plate, the damped gear having a plurality of gear teeth; and a spring to facilitate pivoting the plate about the pivot point to engage at least one of the plurality of gear teeth with at least one tooth on a rack. In some embodiments, the spring is to pivot the plate from a first configuration to an angular position relative the wall in a second configuration, wherein the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth and the at least one tooth on the rack are fully engaged with one another in both the first configuration and the second configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plate operable to pivotally attach to a first wall of a drawer, the plate including a pivot point about which the plate is operable to pivot;
a damped gear coupled to the plate, the damped gear having a plurality of gear teeth; and
a spring to facilitate pivoting the plate about the pivot point to engage a retention bracket attached to the plate and operable to prevent disengagement of at least one of the plurality of gear teeth with at least one tooth on a rack.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein,
the spring facilitates pivoting the plate about the pivot point to engage the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth,
the plate includes a flange to support the retention bracket, and
the spring is compressed between a face of the flange and a retaining surface distal the face of the flange.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a pin coupled to a second wall of the drawer, the pin including a first end attached to the second wall of the drawer, a second end distal the first end and supporting the retaining surface, and a shaft disposed between the first end and the second end, the shaft extending through an opening in the flange, the second wall extending perpendicular to the first wall.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein,
the plate includes a first planar portion, a second planar portion, and a medial portion disposed between the first planar portion and the second planar portion,
the first planar portion includes a pivot portion,
the second planar portion is coupled to the damped gear, and
the medial portion the flange.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 ,
wherein,
the first planar portion extends parallel to and is offset from the second planar portion, and
the medial portion extends perpendicular to both the first planar portion and the second planar portion.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein,
the plate is operable to be positioned in at least a first configuration and a second configuration,
in the first configuration, the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth are fully engaged with the at least one tooth on the rack, and
in the second configuration, the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth are partially engaged with the at least one tooth on the rack based on the retention bracket contacting a surface of the rack.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the retention bracket is attached in a fixed position relative to the plate, the fixed position is to limit a vertical displacement of a bottom surface of the rack relative to a face of the retention bracket to be less than a particular distance.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the particular distance is a length of the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth or another length of the at least one tooth on the rack.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the damped gear is operable to damp movement of the rack.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein damping the movement of the rack prevents physical damage to one or more electrical component stored within the drawer, the rack, and/or a chassis of the rack.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the one or more electrical component includes disk storage or a spinning storage media.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the spring facilitates pivoting to engage the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth with the at least one tooth on the rack during both withdrawal and insertion of the drawer.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein,
the damped gear is operable to damp sliding the rack in a first direction during withdrawal of the drawer, and
the damped gear is operable to damp sliding the rack in a second direction during insertion of the drawer.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plate is attached to the first wall with a hinge.

15. An apparatus comprising:
a plate to pivotally attach to a wall of a drawer, the plate including a pivot point about which the plate is operable to pivot;
a damped gear coupled to the plate, the damped gear having a plurality of gear teeth; and
a retention bracket attached to the plate and operable to prevent disengagement of at least one of the plurality of gear teeth with at least one tooth on a rack.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a spring to facilitate pivoting the plate about the pivot point to engage the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth,
wherein,
the plate includes a flange to support the spring, and
the spring is compressed between a face of the flange and a retaining surface distal the face of the flange.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 ,
wherein,
the plate is operable to be positioned in a third configuration, and
in the third configuration, the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth are partially engaged with the at least one tooth on the rack based on the retention bracket contacting a surface of the rack.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the damped gear is to damp movement of the rack for preventing physical damage to one or more electrical component stored within the drawer, the rack, and/or a chassis of the rack.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a spring to facilitate pivoting to engage the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth with the at least one tooth on the rack during both withdrawal and insertion of the drawer.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 ,
wherein,
the damped gear is operable to damp sliding the rack in a first direction during withdrawal of the drawer, and
the damped gear is operable to damp sliding the rack in a second direction during insertion of the drawer.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Charest Glenn Patrick
• Hruska Daniel Bernard
• Prabhakar Aditya

Classifications

• H05K7/1421

  Drawers for printed circuit boards · CPC title

• A47B88/53

  preventing unintentional closing, e.g. anti-pinch devices · CPC title

• A47B88/473 Primary

  Braking devices, e.g. linear or rotational dampers or friction brakes; Buffers; End stops · CPC title

• G11B33/128

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

• A47B88/483

  with single extensible guides or parts · CPC title