Compact multiple output power supply

Details Compact multiple output power supply Compact multiple output power supply

2000-10-26

2002-07-09

Tolin, Gerald (Department: 2835)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C307S150000, C363S141000, C361S719000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06418015

ABSTRACT:

Providing such forward access has become an important aspect for high availability systems. Where a component such as a card or power supply fails or deteriorates to evoke a warning status, it is important that service personnel be capable of replacing it promptly. Being able to carry out that prompt servicing calls for front access to the components mounted in the mainframe. To further facilitate such rapid and relativity straight-forward component exchange, standards organizations are commencing to specify a feature wherein components are plugged into the system from the forward location while it is actively running. This feature is referred to as “hot swapping”. One approach to providing power supplies which are accessible from the front of the mainframe is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,288, issued Aug. 17, 1999 by Kociecki, entitled “Card Cage Mounted Power Supply With Heat Dissipating Architecture”. The power supply described therein is thin, having a standard slot height and is inserted within a card slot in the same manner as a card. Heat removing airflow is provided to the power supply by the cooling fans which also are utilized to remove heat from the array of cards. Because the power supplies are connected into the backplane by a conventional pin array the necessity for bolted cable connections utilizing rather robust studs is eliminated and the capability for carrying out hot swapping is achieved.
As the systems at hand have become more complex, however, a concomitant requirement for additional card slot space has arisen. Thus, a need is present for a modular form of power supply which is forwardly accessible and exhibits a small size or form factor permitting it to be mounted adjacent the card cage without interfering with that function. This calls for not only diminutive volumetric sizes of the power supply but correspondingly small and preferably multitask handling structures.
Over the recent past, multiple output power supplies with mutually independent outputs have been introduced which achieve a somewhat reduced package size through the utilization of pre-manufactured switching converters, permitting improved power packaging densities. Manufacturers offer them as “bricks”, the converters generally being rectangularly shaped packages of typically flat configuration (i.e., one-half inch thickness), one side of which incorporates a heat transfer surface generally formed of aluminum. With the introduction of the switching converters, improved packaging and cooling techniques have been developed. See in this regard: Tracewell, et al, application for U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,746, entitled “Power Supply and Power Supply/Backplane Assembly and System”, issued Aug. 31, 1999; Tracewell, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,921 entitled “Modular Power Supply”, issued Apr. 4, 2000; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,288 (supra).


REFERENCES:
patent: 5168171 (1992-12-01), Tracewell
patent: 5612854 (1997-03-01), Wiscombe et al.
patent: 5940288 (1999-08-01), Kociecki
patent: 5945746 (1999-08-01), Tracewell et al.
patent: 6046921 (2000-04-01), Tracewell et al.
patent: 6069789 (2000-05-01), Jung
patent: 6198642 (2001-03-01), Kociecki

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