Cooling storage device and cooling module

Details Cooling storage device and cooling module Cooling storage device and cooling module

2000-08-29

2002-02-19

Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C361S754000, C361S707000, C312S223200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06349031

ABSTRACT:

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application claims priority of Taiwan application serial No. 089110430, filed on May 30, 2000, and the contents thereof are herein incorporated as reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cooling storage device for hard disk drive (HDD), and more particularly relates to a HDD cooling storage device with cooling modules.
2. Background of the Invention
As data communication and data sharing are more and more popular, and people have more requirements on local area network (LAN) and world wide web (WWW), a server, for example, a file server, a printer server and so on, plays a very important role. A server must have enough storage capacity for user's demand. Therefore, there are some storage devices, for example hard disk drive (HDD), in a server. Recently, due to the rapid improvement on computer technology, the capacity and operation speed of HDD is enhanced also. Accompanied with the enhancement on capacity and operation speed, power consumption of HDD is increased rapidly, and so is the temperature of HDD. The operation of the server will be negatively effected by an over-heated HDD. It is an important issue on cooling HDD.
HDD is usually stored in the server by a HDD storage box. Referring to
FIG. 1
, which schematically shows a general server comprising a HDD storage box
101
. Then, referring to
FIG. 2
, which schematically shows the HDD storage box
101
. The HDD storage box
101
includes an outer frame
201
and a cooling blower module
203
. Some HDDs
205
are inserted into and fixed in the HDD storage box
101
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, HDDs
205
are densely arranged in the HDD storage box
101
, i.e., there is little space between two adjacent HDDs
205
. As known, heat is generated during the operation of HDD, and large amount of heat will seriously affect normal operation of system and even cause damage to HDD and data stored therein.
In conventional cooling practice, a cooling blower
203
is added in back panel of HDD storage box
101
. The operation of the-cooling blower
203
makes some cooling air flow into the HDD storage box from front panel of HDD storage box
101
. Via flowing of cooling air, heat generated by HDD
205
is brought out of the HDD storage box
101
through the back panel thereof. Thus, HDD is cooled.
Now referring to
FIG. 3
, which shows a back panel board of the HDD storage box shown in FIG.
2
. The back panel board
301
, electrically connected to HDD, is located between the outer frame
201
and the blower
203
. For a better cooling effect, there are some outlets
303
on the back panel
301
. The cooling air flows through spaces between HDDS via the outlets
303
.
However, the conventional cooling issue has some disadvantages as follows.
1. The cooling blower is disposed on the back panel of the HDD storage box, and hence, the whole volume of the HDD storage box is large. The space design for the server is more complicated to designers.
2. Because there is only one cooling blower in the server, when the only blower is out of order, the HDD storage box cannot be cooled by the blower. If so, the server must be shut down immediately for preventing the HDD from being over-heated, damaged and unstable.
3. As shown in
FIG. 3
, there are some outlets
303
on the back panel board for a better cooling efficiency. In addition, there are some circuit layouts on the back panel board for electrically connecting the back panel board to HDD. So, the more outlets on the back panel board, the more restrictions are on circuit layouts. That is, the circuit layouts are limited by position of outlets. This may cause a high flow resistance and a low cooling efficiency. The circuit layouts are influenced, and so is the operation speed of HDD.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the invention provides a HDD storage box with several cooling modules for cooling HDD. The HDD storage box is inserted in a server device, for example a file server. The cooling modules are hot-plug. That is, if one of the cooling modules is out of order, users or maintenance personnel do not have to shut down the server device for maintenance or exchange the out-of-ordered cooling module.
In order to achieve the above objective, the invention provides a storage box for hard disk drive (HDD). The storage box includes an outer frame, a first holder, a second holder, a cooling module and a back panel board. The first and second holders are opposite and for fixing A the HDD. The cooling module, for cooling the HDD, is fixed in the storage box via the second holder and the outer frame. The cooling air is drawn into the storage box by the cooling module. The back panel board is electrically connected to the cooling module. The back panel board has an outlet whose position is related to the cooling module. The cooling air flows through surface of the HDD and a heat sink of the cooling module, and then exhausts from the outlet of the back panel board.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5818696 (1998-10-01), Knoop
patent: 6185097 (2001-02-01), Behl
patent: 6193339 (2001-02-01), Behl et al.

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