Technologies for blind mating for sled-rack connections

A rack of a data center, the rack comprising:

• two elongated support posts extending upwardly from a floor of the data center;
• a plurality of pairs of elongated support arms, each pair of support arms defining a sled slot and comprising a first support arm extending from a first support post of the two support posts and a second support arm extending from a second support post of the two support posts;
• a sled comprising a circuit board supported by a pair of support arms of the plurality of pairs of support arms;
• an optical connector assembly comprising a first optical connector and a second optical connector, wherein one of the corresponding first and second optical connectors is a sled-side optical connector mounted on the circuit board of the sled and the other optical connector of the corresponding first and second optical connectors is a rack-side optical connector mechanically coupled to one of the two elongated support posts,
• wherein the first optical connector comprises a plurality of elongated guide posts, a first ferrule, and a first plurality of optical fibers, wherein the ferrule of the first optical connector comprises a mating surface with a hole for each optical fiber of the first plurality of optical fibers, wherein each optical fiber of the first plurality of optical fibers is arranged in the corresponding hole of the first ferrule such that a polished output surface of the optical fiber is flush with the mating surface of the first ferrule,
• wherein the second optical connector comprises a plurality of elongated guide post receivers, a second ferrule, and a second plurality of optical fibers, wherein the ferrule of the second optical connector comprises a mating surface with a hole for each optical fiber of the second plurality of optical fibers, wherein each optical fiber of the second plurality of optical fibers is arranged in the corresponding hole of the second ferrule such that a polished output surface of the optical fiber is flush with the mating surface of the second ferrule,
• wherein the first optical connector is mated with the second optical connector such that each guide post of the plurality of guide posts is mated with each corresponding guide post receiver of the plurality of guide post receivers and each optical fiber of the first plurality of optical fibers is optically coupled to each optical fiber of the second plurality of optical fibers.

A method for assembling a rack of a data center, the method comprising:

• sliding a sled comprising a circuit board into a sled slot defined by a pair of elongated support arms, wherein the pair of support arms comprise a first support arm extending from a first elongated support post and a second support arm extending from a second elongated support post,
• wherein sliding the sled into the sled slot comprises:
• blindly mating a plurality of elongated guide posts of the first optical connector with a plurality of guide post receivers of the second optical connector,
• blindly mating a first optical connector with a second optical connector to form an optical connector assembly, wherein one of the corresponding first and second optical connectors is a sled-side optical connector mounted on the circuit board of the sled and the other of the corresponding first and second optical connectors is a rack-side optical connector mechanically coupled to the first elongated support post,
• wherein blindly mating the first optical connector with the second optical connector comprises abutting a mating surface of a first ferrule of the first optical connector against a mating surface of a second ferrule of the second optical connector such that each optical fiber of a first plurality of optical fibers of the first optical connector is optically coupled with a corresponding optical fiber of a second plurality of optical fibers of the second optical connector, wherein each optical fiber of the first and second pluralities of optical fibers is arranged in a hole of the corresponding ferrule such that a polished surface of the optical fiber is flush with the corresponding mating surface.