Systems and methods for damping a storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9763518-B2
Application number	US-201514621246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2015
Priority date	Aug 29, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

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 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 coupled to the plate 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.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plate further comprises:
a flange to support the spring, wherein 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 comprising:
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; and
wherein the second wall is perpendicular to the first wall.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the plate further comprises:
a first planar portion in which the pivot point is located,
a second planar portion for coupling to the damped gear, and
a medial portion for supported the flange, the medial portion being disposed between the first planar portion and the second planar portion.

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

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a retention bracket attached to the plate to prevent disengagement of the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth from the at least one tooth on the rack.

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

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the retention bracket is attached in a fixed position relative to the plate, the fixed position is to limit a vertical displacement of the bottom surface of the rack relative to a face of the retention bracket to be less than a particular distance.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the particular distance is selected from the group consisting of: a first length of the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth and a second length of the at least one tooth on the rack.

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

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the damping the movement is to prevent physical damage to at least one of: one or more electrical component stored within the drawer, the rack, or a chassis on which the rack is located.

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

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

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the damped gear damps sliding the rack in a first direction during of the drawer, and wherein the damped gear damps sliding the rack in a second direction during insertion of the drawer.

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

16. An apparatus comprising:
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 coupled to the plate, wherein the spring is to pivot the plate, about the pivot point, from a first configuration to an angular position relative the wall in a second configuration, and wherein at least one of the plurality of gear teeth and at least one tooth on a rack are fully engaged with one another in both the first configuration and the second configuration.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the plate further comprises:
a flange to support the spring, wherein the spring is compressed between a face of the flange and a retaining surface distal the face of the flange.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising:
a retention bracket attached to the plate to prevent disengagement of the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth from the at least one tooth on the rack.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the plate can be positioned in third configuration, wherein in the third configuration, the at least one of the plurality of gear teeth are partially engaged with the at least one tooth on a rack based on the retaining bracket contacting a surface of the rack.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the damped gear is to damp movement of the rack for preventing physical damage to at least one of: one or more electrical component stored within the drawer, the rack, or a chassis on which the rack is located.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Charest Glenn Patrick
• Hruska Daniel Bernard
• Prabhakar Aditya

Classifications

• H05K7/1421

  Drawers for printed circuit boards · CPC title

• A47B88/483

  with single extensible guides or parts · CPC title

• A47B88/12 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• G11B33/128

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

• G11B33/08

  Insulation or absorption of undesired vibrations or sounds · CPC title