Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-20
2003-11-18
Nguyen, Truc (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
C439S064000, C439S157000, C439S298000, C439S377000, C439S328000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06648667
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to methods and apparatus for securely engaging a module, such as a computer component, into a connector which is supported on a chassis or a main board.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is particularly useful in systems such as disk arrays and the like, but can be applied to any situation where it is desired to securely mount a component or module into a connector which is supported on or by a chassis or frame or the like. A disk array is a battery of computer memory disk drives which are mounted together within a cabinet. Disk arrays fit within a category of computer equipment known as “storage systems” because the system is used to store large amount of data. A typical use of a disk array is an Internet server which stores web site information, including content which can be accessed from the web site. It is not uncommon for a disk array to have the capacity to store several terabytes of data (a terabyte being 1000 gigabytes).
A disk array typically consists of a cabinet which houses a plurality of disk drives. The disk drives are mounted by connectors to a board or “plane”, which is supported by a chassis, all within the cabinet of the disk array. Depending on the location of the plane within the cabinet, the plane can be known as a “midplane” (mounted towards the middle of the cabinet so that disk drives can be mounted to either side of the plane), or a “back plane” (mounted towards the back of the cabinet so that the disk drives are only mounted to one side of the plane). The chassis can further include framework for supporting the disk drives, and to facilitate orienting the disk drive to the connectors. In this manner a disk drive can be inserted or removed from the array.
The plane further supports electrical conductors for routing power and data to and from the disk drives via the connectors. The electrical conductors are routed to a main connection, allowing a remote computer to store and retrieve data from the disk array. The connectors on the plane can be female connectors which are configured to receive male connector pins on the disk drive. Each disk drive typically has a plurality of such “pins” which mate with the corresponding female connectors on the plane to allow the individual disk drives to send and receive data via the electrical conductors. In other systems, the module can have female connectors, and the panel or board to which the module is being mounted can have corresponding male pins for completing the connection. Although we use the term “pin” to describe the male component of the connector assembly, it is understood that the “pin” can in fact be a blade, a cylinder, a rectangle, or any other protruding geometry which allows it to be inserted into a female receiving connector component.
Turning briefly to
FIG. 1A
, a side view of a prior art connector
1
is shown in cross section. The connector
1
is mounted on the plane
2
. The connector housing
1
a
defines a cavity
3
, in which is located female connectors
4
and
5
, which together form a single female connector component. Female connectors
4
and
5
are spring biased towards the center of the cavity
3
such that when a male connector pin
6
, which is connected to module
7
, is moved in direction “A”, the female connectors are pushed apart, but remain biased against the pin
6
. Such biasing assures good electrical contact between the connector components.
To maintain the module securely seated in its receptacle within the frame of the disk array, a latch can be provided which secures the module to the chassis or frame. With reference to
FIG. 2
, a prior art disk array
10
is shown. The disk array comprises a cabinet
11
in which a chassis or frame
12
is disposed. The chassis
12
comprises side rails
23
, a top rail
22
, and intermediate vertical rails
15
and
17
, which when assembled form openings
13
in which a disk drive, such as disk drive
14
, can be inserted. The disk drives mate to connectors
1
which are mounted to a plane
25
, visible through the openings formed by the chassis members. Disk drive
14
is secured within the opening
13
, and is securely seated to connector
1
, via the latch
20
. Turning now to
FIG. 3
, a left side sectional view of the upper left opening
13
of the prior art disk array
10
of
FIG. 2
is shown. As can be seen, intermediate chassis rail
15
has an anchor point
21
which is configured to be engaged by the latch
20
of FIG.
2
.
Turning now to
FIG. 4
, a perspective view of the disk drive
14
of
FIG. 2
is shown in more detail.
FIG. 4
depicts the prior art latch
20
and its method of engagement with intermediate chassis rail
15
. To secure the disk drive
14
to the midplane (
25
of FIG.
3
), the far end
29
of the latch
20
is moved in the direction of arrow “B” until handle catch portion
31
engages the disk catch portion
32
to maintain the latch
20
in the secured position. The latch assembly is shown in top view in FIG.
5
. The latch
20
of
FIG. 5
includes a leveraging edge
30
which engages flange
33
, which acts as an anchor point for the latch. As can be seen, when latch
20
engages anchor point
33
and is moved in direction “B”, the latch
20
pivots about pivot point
28
and the disk drive
14
is pulled in direction “A” into the opening
13
. Latch
20
is moved in direction “B” until the latch is secured by the catch
32
. Catch
32
can comprise a spring-release catch having moveable part
34
which moves in direction “C” to allow catch pin
31
on latch
20
to move past the catch pin. The latch is secured in the “locked” position when the catch pin moves back to its biased position. By pulling the latch in the direction opposite to “B” the catch pin is pushed aside, allowing the disk drive to be freed from the anchor point
33
.
In designing a connector system for an electronic module, two primary considerations are taken into account. The first is to ensure that the connector pin (
6
of
FIG. 1A
) is sufficiently engaged by the connector contacts
4
and
5
. This is necessary for the obvious reason that if no contact is made, data and power cannot be transferred to and from the disk drive. The second consideration is to ensure that excessive force is not applied to the connector system when the connection is made and the module is seated. This is necessary since a force exerted on the midplane can lead to premature failure of the midplane, failure of solder connections, and damage to the connector components. Further, forces exerted on components within the module by the module connectors can lead to failure of these components as well. As shown in
FIG. 1A
, the first objective of ensuring a connection between the contacts is achieved by designing the connector pins
6
and the contacts
4
and
5
such that there is a reserve wipe distance, d
rw
, i.e., a distance over which the pin
6
travels after it has made initial contact with the connector contacts
4
and
5
. The second objective of avoiding an excessive force on the midplane is achieved by designing the connector assembly such that there is a design gap, d
dg
, between the connector housing
1
a
and the disk drive connector housing
7
.
However, in production units the actual wipe distance and the actual gap distance can vary from the design wipe distance and the design gap distance. This variance is due to tolerances in the various components in the chassis, the plane and the module. These tolerances can be due to sheet metal tolerances, printed circuit board (e.g., midplane) tolerances, press-in standoff tolerances, and connector tolerances, to name just a few. The cumulative effect of these tolerances is expressed by the equation
tol
sys
=(tol
1
2
+tol
2
2
+tol
3
2
+ . . . +tol
n
2
)
½
,
where tol
sys
is the cumulative tolerance of the system, and tol
1−n
represent the various tolerances of the components. If the system tolerance indicates that the actual gap distance might be reduced to zero, then the situati
Dowdy James L.
Heidenreich Steven E.
Schkrohowsky Guenter
Sevier Richard G.
Hewlett--Packard Development Company, L.P.
Nguyen Truc
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