Composite connector carrying power, electro-optical data, and fluid input/output

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12158616-B2
Application number	US-202117547789-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2021
Priority date	Dec 10, 2021
Publication date	Dec 3, 2024
Grant date	Dec 3, 2024

Abstract

A composite connector includes modular data connectors, electrical power connectors, a fluid exchange connector, an alignment feature, and a housing. The modular data connectors include electrical data connectors and optical data connectors and are configured to carry data. The electrical power connectors are configured to carry electrical power, and the fluid exchange connector is configured to carry cooling fluid. The composite connector includes an alignment feature to align the composite connector with a complementary connector. The housing of the composite connector is configured to contain the modular data connectors, the electrical power connectors, the fluid exchange connector, and the alignment feature in a confined physical space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of modular data connectors configured to carry data, the plurality of modular data connectors including electrical data connectors and optical data connectors;
at least one pair of electrical power connectors configured to carry electrical power;
a fluid exchange connector configured to carry cooling fluid;
an alignment feature configured to align the plurality of modular data connectors with a plurality of complementary data connectors in a rack to enable blind mating of the electrical data connectors and the optical data connectors of the plurality of modular data connectors with the plurality of complementary data connectors; and
a housing configured to contain the plurality of modular data connectors, the at least one pair of electrical power connectors, the fluid exchange connector, and the alignment feature in a confined physical space.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the electrical data connectors are configured to be replaced with one or more additional optical data connectors.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of complementary data connectors in the rack are combined with at least one pair of complementary electrical power connectors, a complementary fluid exchange connector, and a complementary alignment feature.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a keying feature configured to prevent mismatched data connectors, the keying feature corresponding to a particular configuration of the plurality of modular data connectors.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fluid exchange connector is coupled to an interior surface of the alignment feature.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pair of electrical power connectors comprise bus bars disposed on at least one side of the housing.

7. A system comprising:
a computing device;
a first connector coupled to the computing device, the first connector comprising:
a plurality of modular data connectors configured to carry data, the plurality of modular data connectors including electrical data connectors and optical data connectors;
at least one pair of electrical power connectors configured to carry electrical power for the computing device;
a fluid exchange connector configured to carry cooling fluid;
an alignment feature configured to align the first connector with a complementary connector; and
a housing configured to contain the plurality of modular data connectors, the at least one pair of electrical power connectors, the fluid exchange connector, and the alignment feature in a confined physical space; and

a second connector configured to be coupled to the computing device, wherein the cooling fluid flows through the first connector in an opposite direction than cooling fluid that flows through the second connector.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein one or more of the electrical data connectors are configured to be replaced with one or more additional optical data connectors.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first connector is configured to blind mate with a first complementary connector in a rack, wherein the first complementary connector includes a plurality of complementary data connectors, at least one pair of complementary electrical power connectors, a complementary fluid exchange connector, and a complementary alignment feature.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the first connector and the second connector further comprises a keying feature configured to prevent mismatched data connectors, the keying feature corresponding to a particular configuration of the plurality of modular data connectors.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the fluid exchange connector is coupled to an interior surface of the alignment feature.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one pair of electrical power connectors comprise bus bars disposed on at least one side of the housing.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computing device comprises a compute core, an Input/Output (I/O) fabric card, a data storage node, a memory node, or an accelerator node.

14. The system of claim 7 , wherein the second connector is configured to blind mate with a second complementary connector in a rack.

15. A method comprising:
aligning a composite connector with a complementary connector using an alignment feature of the composite connector;
enabling blind mating of a plurality of modular data connectors of the composite connector to a plurality of complementary data connectors of the complementary connector using the alignment feature of the composite connector, the plurality of modular data connectors including electrical data connectors and optical data connectors;
carrying data through the plurality of modular data connectors in the composite connector;
obtaining electrical power from at least one pair of electrical power connectors in the composite connector; and
obtaining cooling fluid through a fluid exchange connector in the composite connector,
wherein a housing contains the plurality of modular data connectors, the at least one pair of electrical power connectors, the fluid exchange connector, and the alignment feature in a confined physical space.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising replacing one or more of the electrical data connectors with one or more additional optical data connectors.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the complementary connector includes integrating the plurality of complementary data connectors, to at least one pair of complementary electrical power connectors, a complementary fluid exchange connector, and a complementary alignment feature.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising preventing mismatched data connectors with a keying feature on the composite connector, the keying feature corresponding to a particular configuration of the plurality of modular data connectors.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein obtaining cooling fluid comprises obtaining cooling fluid through the fluid exchange connector that is coupled to an interior surface of the alignment feature.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein obtaining electrical power comprises obtaining electrical power through bus bars disposed on at least one side of the housing.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Thakar Anant
• Sen Bidyut Kanti
• Balachandran Jayaprakash
• Achkir D Brice
• Goergen Joel Richard

Classifications

• H05K5/0286

  Receptacles therefor, e.g. card slots, module sockets, card groundings · CPC title

• H01R12/598

  Each conductor being individually surrounded by shield, e.g. multiple coaxial cables in flat structure · CPC title

• G02B6/4292

  the light guide being disconnectable from the opto-electronic element, e.g. mutually self aligning arrangements · CPC title

• G06F1/186

  Securing of expansion boards in correspondence to slots provided at the computer enclosure · CPC title

• G06F1/181

  Enclosures (for portable computers G06F1/1613) · CPC title