Board-to-board mechanical connection configuration
AssigneeAivres Systems Inc.
InventorTsung Ho CHEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A retention mechanism for installing an expansion card in a computer system comprises at least one ratchet rack mounted in a fixed location in the chassis and a corresponding sliding retainer adapted to slide along the ratchet rack in a vertical direction. The ratchet rack can include a plurality of rack gear teeth and the sliding retainer can include a pawl that is biased into engagement with the rack gear teeth. When the expansion card is inserted into an edge connector socket, the sliding retainer slidingly engages the ratchet rack to linearly move in the vertical direction to contact the expansion card and the pawl is urged into engagement with the rack gear teeth.
Claims20
A retention mechanism for installing an expansion card into an edge connector socket in a computer system comprising:
- a ratchet rack adapted to be mounted to a fixed location in a chassis of the computer system, the ratchet rack comprising a plurality of rack gear teeth linearly aligned in a vertical direction associated with the chassis;
- and
- a sliding retainer slidably along the ratchet rack in the vertical direction and adapted to contact the expansion card, the sliding retainer comprising a lever arm with a pawl urged into engagement with the plurality of rack gear teeth to selectively lock the sliding retainer along the vertical direction.
A method of installing an expansion card into an edge connector socket in a computer system comprising:
- fixedly securing a ratchet rack internally in a chassis of the computer system, the ratchet rack comprising a plurality of ratchet gear aligned in a vertical direction associated with the chassis;
- inserting a lower card edge of the expansion card in the vertical direction into the edge connector socket;
- slidingly engaging a sliding retainer to the ratchet rack and sliding the sliding retainer in the vertical direction to contact the expansion card;
- and
- urging a pawl on the sliding retainer into engagement with the plurality of rack gear teeth on the ratchet rack to lock the sliding retainer in the vertical direction.
A retention mechanism for retaining a plurality of expansion cards to a corresponding plurality of edge connector socket in a computer system, the retention mechanism comprising:
- a ratchet panel comprising a plurality of ratchet racks, of the plurality of ratchet rack each comprising a plurality of rack gear teeth aligned linearly in a vertical direction associated with a chassis of the computer system, the plurality of ratchet racks spaced apart in a lateral direction perpendicular to the vertical direction;
- and
- one or more sliding retainers, each sliding retainer adapted to slide in the vertical direction along a pair of ratchet racks adjacent to each other, each sliding retainer comprising a pawl urged to engage with the rack gear teeth on the pair of ratchet racks to lock the sliding retainer in the vertical direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.