Lift handles having safety interlocks for a rack-mounted enclosure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016014918-A1
Application number	US-201514859191-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 18, 2015
Priority date	Jan 6, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a system includes an enclosure configured to be removable from a rack system, the enclosure including at least one bay for insertion of a component therein, a horizontally-oriented upper wall, a horizontally-oriented lower wall, two vertically-oriented sidewalls coupled to the upper and lower walls, and a set of integrated handles, each handle being configured to transition from a recessed position to an extended position, and each handle being configured to be gripped by a hand when in the extended position, wherein each handle is configured to extend higher than the upper wall of the enclosure when in the extended position, and wherein each handle is configured to retract to within an outer profile of the enclosure when in the recessed position. Each handle is configured to rotate 180° from the recessed position to the extended position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
an enclosure configured to be removable from a rack system, the enclosure comprising:
at least one bay for insertion of a component therein;
a horizontally-oriented upper wall;
a horizontally-oriented lower wall;
two vertically-oriented sidewalls coupled to the upper and lower walls; and
a set of integrated handles, each handle being configured to transition from a recessed position to an extended position, and each handle being configured to be gripped by a hand when in the extended position,
wherein each handle is configured to extend higher than the upper wall of the enclosure when in the extended position,
wherein each handle is configured to retract to within an outer profile of the enclosure when in the recessed position,
wherein each handle is configured to rotate 180° from the recessed position to the extended position, and wherein each handle is oriented upside down when in the recessed position.

2 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein four of the handles are located near corners of the upper wall of the enclosure, with two of the handles being positioned within or on an exterior of each of the vertically-oriented sidewalls of the enclosure when in the recessed position.

3 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the enclosure further comprises one or more catches, each catch being associated with at least one of the handles and configured to release the one or more associated handles, wherein the one or more associated handles are restricted from transitioning from the recessed position to the extended position until the associated catch is disengaged.

4 . The system as recited in claim 3 , wherein the at least one handle is biased toward the extended position such that disengaging the associated catch while the at least one handle is in the recessed position causes the at least one handle to transition to the extended position.

5 . The system as recited in claim 4 , wherein the at least one handle is biased toward the extended position with a spring-loaded mechanism.

6 . The system as recited in claim 3 , wherein each of the handles has one or more catches associated therewith, each associated catch being positioned near to the recessed position of one handle on an exterior of the upper wall or an exterior of one of the vertically-oriented sidewalls of the enclosure, wherein disengaging the catches releases the associated handle.

7 . The system as recited in claim 3 , wherein each catch includes a button which is configured to disengage upon being depressed in order to release the one or more corresponding handle.

8 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the enclosure further comprises one or more interlocks, each interlock being physically configured to prevent transition of one or more handles associated therewith from the recessed position to the extended position when a component is installed in at least one bay of the enclosure.

9 . The system as recited in claim 8 , wherein one or more interlocks are associated with each bay of the enclosure with each interlock being configured to prevent the transition of the one or more handles.

10 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the outer profile of the enclosure is defined as a maximum possible side-to-side width and top-to-bottom height of the enclosure that allows for the enclosure to fit into a stall of the rack system.

11 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein two of the handles are positioned at an extreme rear end of the enclosure on or within the vertically-oriented sidewalls of the enclosure to provide immediate access to the handles upon beginning to remove the enclosure from the rack system.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Kelaher Daniel P
• Myrto Glenn E
• Scavuzzo John P

Classifications

• H05K7/1485

  Servers; Data center rooms, e.g. 19-inch computer racks · CPC title

• H05K5/023 Primary

  Handles; Grips · CPC title

• H05K7/18

  Construction of rack or frame · CPC title

• H05K7/1487

  Blade assemblies, e.g. blade cases or inner arrangements within a blade · CPC title

• H05K7/1488 Primary

  Cabinets therefor, e.g. chassis or racks or mechanical interfaces between blades and support structures · CPC title