Latch mechansim for releasably securing riser card assembly
AssigneeAivres Systems Inc.
InventorCheng-Hua CHEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An arrangement for stably and releasably securing a riser card assembly in a computer system can utilize one or more latch mechanisms. The riser card assembly may include a riser card bracket having one or more latch pins extending perpendicularly to an installation direction of the riser card assembly to the computer system. The latch mechanisms may include a latch cover defining a latch compartment accessible by a latch passageway. The latch mechanism can include a spring-load actuator with a catch to retain the latch pin when moved into the latch passageway and a spring-loaded stopper arranged to restrain movement of the spring-loaded actuator.
Claims20
A computer system comprising:
- a chassis;
- a motherboard having a planar board form located in the chassis and having a board-mounted expansion socket that defines an installation direction perpendicular to the board form;
- a riser card assembly comprising a riser card having a planar card form perpendicular to the planar board form and one or more card-mounted expansion sockets;
- a riser card bracket that is attached to the riser card, the riser card bracket comprising a latch pin that extends in a lateral direction perpendicular to the installation direction;
- a latch mechanism mounted to a chassis panel, the latch mechanism comprising:
- a latch cover defining a latch compartment extending in a compartment axis, the latch compartment accessible through a latch passageway disposed in the latch cover;
- a spring-loaded actuator defining a catch and a detent, the catch configured to receive and retain the latch pin when the latch pin is moved in the installation direction into the latch passageway;
- and
- a spring-loaded stopper biased against the spring-loaded actuator to engage the detent and restrain the spring-loaded actuator.
A method of installing a riser card assembly into a computer system comprising:
- providing a riser card bracket comprising one or more latch pins extending in a lateral direction;
- attaching a riser card to the riser card bracket to produce a riser card assembly, the riser card comprising a card-mounted expansion socket oriented in the lateral direction and a lower contact edge oriented in an installation direction perpendicular to the lateral direction;
- installing the riser card assembly to a board-mounted expansion socket by moving the riser card assembly in the installation direction to concurrently:
- insert the lower contact edge into the board-mounted expansion socket;
- insert the latch pin into a latch passageway of a latch mechanism mounted to a chassis of the computer system to actuate a spring-loaded actuator of the latch mechanism to retain the latch pin, and
- restraining the spring-loaded actuator with a spring-load stopper to retrain the latch pin.
A latch mechanism for installing printed circuit cards in a computer system comprising:
- a latch cover defining a latch compartment extending along a compartment axis, the latch compartment accessible by a latch passageway orthogonal to the compartment axis;
- spring-loaded actuator partially located in the latch compartment, the spring-loaded actuator comprising a catch configured to receive a latch pin moved toward the latch passageway and orthogonally to the compartment axis;
- and
- a spring-loaded stopper biased to translate along the compartment axis against the spring-loaded actuator to engage a detent and restrain the spring-loaded actuator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.