Electronic circuits
OwnerSean Conor Wrycraft, Brian Bensteadinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A modular electronic circuit is described wherein mother and daughterboards are arranged in perpendicular planes extending from front to rear within the modules. Ventilation openings in the front and rear faces, and one or more ventilation units mounted to the front and/or rear faces, provide a substantially rectilinear airflow through the module. The absence of transverse vertical barriers to airflow enables a more efficient use of the internal volume of the module for electronic circuitry and reduces fan power requirement and noise generation.
Claims29
A modular electronic circuit comprising a rack and a number of electronics modules each having front and rear faces, upper and lower faces and side faces mounted to the rack, in an operating position wherein only the front and rear faces of the module are accessible, the module being movable to a servicing position wherein the upper, lower and side faces are accessible, and wherein at least one module comprises a motherboard mounted within the module in a plane extending from front to back of the module and a number of daughter boards mounted to the motherboard in planes perpendicular to the motherboard and extending from front to back within the module.
A modular housing for electronic circuitry comprising a front face, a rear face, a pair of side faces extending between the front and rear faces and an upper and lower face to complete a paralelepipedal enclosure, the housing further comprising:
- ventilation openings in the front and rear faces;
- first mounting elements for mounting a motherboard within the housing in a plane extending in the direction from the front face to the rear face of the housing;
- second mounting elements for mounting at least one daughter board within the housing in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the motherboard and extending in the direction from the front face to the rear face of the housing;
- and
- external support elements on the side faces for attaching the housing to a supporting structure.
A module for an electronic circuit, comprising a housing having front and rear faces with ventilation openings therein, a motherboard and a daughter board electrically connected together and arranged within the housing in perpendicular planes, wherein both the motherboard and the daughter board extend in the direction from the front face of the housing to the rear face.
A method of removing a daughterboard from a module of a rack-mounted modular electronic circuit, comprising the steps of:
- moving a module out of the rack in a forward or rearward horizontal direction;
- withdrawing a daughterboard from the module through an opening in an upper, lower or side surface of the module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.