Communication equipment cabinet cooling arrangement
AssigneesAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorAlan Sarath
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In order to cool heat generating components mounted on circuit packs plugged into a backplane wiring board mounted in a compact cabinet, in which the backplane would normally prevent a stream of cooling gas entering the front of the cabinet from flowing evenly over the heat generating components, a flow control baffle is placed on each side of the backplane to direct cooling gas entering the cabinet to the rear of the circuit packs and then around the backplane to a plenum formed by the backplane and a rear surface of the cabinet where the gas is exhausted by a fan. The exhaust of the cooling gas by the fan causes the level of the cooling gas pressure in the plenum to decrease, thereby urging additional cooling gas to enter the cabinet through louvers formed in the front surface of the cabinet.
Claims15
Apparatus comprising
- a cabinet,
- a circuit pack cage disposed in said cabinet such that a plenum is formed between a rear surface of said circuit pack cage and an interior rear surface of said cabinet and a pair of ducts each communicating with said plenum are formed between respective side surfaces of said circuit pack cage and respective interior surfaces of said cabinet,
- means contained in said circuit pack cage for mounting an array of circuit packs each bearing heat generating components, said circuit packs being mounted one above the other such that the component mounting surface of each of said circuit packs is parallel with a top surface of said cabinet, and
- a pair of flow control baffles attached to respective side surfaces of said circuit pack cage,
- whereby a cooling gas which enters a front surface of said cabinet and flows over heat generating components affixed at one end of each of said circuit packs is directed by said pair of baffles to flow over heat generating components affixed at the other end of each of said circuit packs and thence into said ducts where said cooling gas then flows into said plenum and is exhausted therefrom.
Apparatus comprising
- a cabinet,
- means for receiving at least one assembly of heat bearing components, said means for receiving being disposed in said cabinet such that each side surface of said means for receiving and a respective interior surface of said cabinet form a duct communicating with a plenum formed by a rear surface of said means for receiving and an interior rear surface of said cabinet,
- means for urging a cooling gas to flow into said cabinet and thence over ones of said heat generating components disposed at one end of said assembly, and a pair of flow-control baffles attached to respective side surfaces of said means for receiving for directing the flow of said cooling gas over other ones of said heat bearing components disposed at the other end of said assemlby and thence into each said duct where said cooling gas flows into said plenum and is exhausted from said cabinet.
Apparatus comprising
- a cabinet,
- a circuit pack cage for receiving at least one circuit pack bearing heat generating components, said circuit pack cage being disposed in said cabinet such that a duct communicating with a common plenum is formed on each side of said circuit pack cage, said at least one circuit pack being disposed in said circuit pack cage such that a plane defined by the surface of said at least one circuit pack is parallel with a top surface of said cabinet,
- means for urging a cooling gas to enter a front surface of said cabinet and to flow over ones of said heat generating components affixed at one end of said at least one circuit pack, and
- a pair of flow-control baffles attached to respective side surfaces of said circuit pack cage for directing the flow of said cooling gas to other ones of said heat generating components affixed at the other end of said at least one circuit pack and thence into each said duct so that said cooling gas may flow into said plenum responsive to a convection flow established by said means for urging.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.