US 7,033,267 B2Granted

Rack enclosure

AssigneeAmerican Power Conversion Corporation

InventorNeil Rasmussen

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Abstract

An enclosure is provided for housing electronic equipment that accommodates the different cooling and ventilating requirements of different types of equipment. The enclosure is constructed and arranged to support cooling airflow in a front-to-back configuration through the enclosure and in a side-to-side configuration from one side to an opposite side of the enclosure. The enclosure can thereby provide within a single enclosure means cooling air for components using front-to-back airflow for cooling, such as information technology (IT) equipment, and for components using side-to-side airflow, such as certain types of telecommunications equipment. The enclosure can thereby support a mix of IT and telecommunications equipment, providing flexibility and adaptability in network room and data center configuration. The enclosure is further configured to separate intake air used by equipment for cooling from exhaust air vented by equipment into its interior during operation. As a result, the enclosure promotes sufficient equipment cooling and prevents/minimizes equipment overheating.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An enclosure for containing equipment including at least one side-to-side equipment component using side-to-side airflow for cooling and at least one front-to-back equipment component using front-to-back airflow for cooling, the enclosure comprising:

a housing including a top side, a bottom side, a first side, a second side, a front side, and a rear side, at least one of the bottom side and the front side having formed therein at least one opening to receive cooling air into a front intake portion of an interior of the housing, and at least one of the rear side and the top side having formed therein at least one opening to allow exhaust air to vent from within a back exhaust portion of the interior of the housing to an area external to the housing, the front side being opposite to the rear side of the housing and the front intake portion being opposite and parallel to the back exhaust portion of the housing interior;
an internal frame disposed in the interior of the housing and spaced from the first side and the second side arid secured therein to allow mounting of one or more equipment components in an equipment area formed by the internal frame;
and
a first air plenum defined along one side of the internal frame between the internal frame and one of the first side and the second side of the housing, the first air plenum being in fluid communication with the front intake portion of the interior of the housing to receive cooling air from the at least one first opening, the first air plenum being configured to contain cooling air such that cooling air can flow from the first air plenum into the at least one side-to-side equipment component and being further configured to prevent mixing of cooling air with exhaust air vented to the back portion of the housing interior,
wherein the front intake portion being configured to contain cooling air such that a portion of cooling air can flow into the at least one front-to-back equipment component.

2 more elements

An enclosure for containing equipment comprising:

a housing including a top side, a bottom side, a first side, a second side, a front side, and a rear side, at least one of the bottom side and the front side having formed therein at least one first opening to receive cooling air into a front portion of an interior of the housing, and at least one of the rear side and the top side having formed therein at least one second opening to allow exhaust air to vent from within a back portion of the interior of the housing to an area external to the housing;
an internal frame disposed in the interior of the housing and spaced from the first side and the second side and secured therein to allow mounting of one or more equipment components in an equipment area formed by the internal frame;
a first air plenum defined along a first side of the internal frame between the internal frame and the first side of the housing, the first air plenum being in fluid communication with the front portion of the interior of the housing to receive cooling air from the at least one first opening, the first air plenum being configured to contain air along one side of the internal frame such that air can flow from the first air plenum into at least one side-to-side component in the internal frame, the at least one side-to-side component being configured to draw air from its intake side and to vent exhaust air from its exhaust side to achieve side-to-side airflow;
a second air plenum defined along an opposite second side of the internal frame between the internal frame and the second side of the housing, the second air plenum being in fluid communication with the back portion of the interior of the housing and adapted to receive exhaust air vented from the at least one side-to-side component;
the first air plenum having a back section that provides an airflow blocking barrier between the first air plenum and the back portion of the interior of the housing;
the second air plenum having a front section that provides an airflow blocking barrier between the second air plenum and the front portion of the interior of the housing;
and
further comprising a first partition removably mounted between the first air plenum and the first side of the internal frame to selectively block air flow from the first air plenum into at least a portion of the equipment area of the internal frame.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.