Cooling system

• US 20020167797A1
• Filed: 03/26/2001
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McData Services Corp. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Inrange Technologies Corporation (CNT Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Willers, Arthur G., Kent, Stanton
• Granted Patent: US 6,646,877 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/695
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20181 Filters; Louvers

Abstract

A system for cooling telecommunications device includes an air inducing mechanism which pushes air into an enclosure of the device and an air exhaust mechanism which exhausts the air from the enclosure. The rate at which the air is pushed into the enclosure is less than the rate at which the air is expelled from the enclosure and these two rates are controlled such that the pressure differential between the pressure within the enclosure and the ambient pressure outside the enclosure is minimized. By minimizing this pressure drop, the airflow mechanisms are able to operate more efficiently, that is, they are able to operate at substantially near their design speed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for cooling a telecommunications device, comprising:

a first airflow mechanism mounted in an enclosure of the device and oriented within the enclosure to induce air into the enclosure; and

a second airflow mechanism mounted in the enclosure of the device and oriented for expelling air out of the enclosure;

wherein a rate at which the air is induced into the enclosure is less than a rate at which the air is expelled, and the induced rate and the exhaust rate are controlled to minimize the pressure differential between a pressure within the enclosure and an ambient pressure outside the enclosure.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism is a first fan, and the second airflow mechanism is a second fan.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising two additional fans, the third fan being mounted adjacent to the first fan and oriented to induce air into the enclosure, and the fourth fan being mounted adjacent to the third fan and oriented to exhaust air from the enclosure.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each fan is removable.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein when one fan fails, the other fans operate at a sufficient speed to prevent thermal damage to the components within the enclosure.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism are interchangeable modules.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the modules are keyed to ensure the proper orientation of the modules when mounted in the enclosure so that the airflow direction through the enclosure is not adversely affected.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a controller which controls the speed of the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is programmable such that the speed control of each mechanism is variable.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller operates the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism at preset speeds.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism is mounted in a lower half portion of the enclosure.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second airflow mechanism is mounted in an upper half portion of the enclosure.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism are removable from the enclosure.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism operates in series with the second airflow mechanism.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism are controlled to operate at preset speeds.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism are controlled to operate at variable speeds.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of variably controlling the speed of the first airflow mechanism and the speed of the second airflow mechanism.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of controlling the first airflow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism to operate at preset speeds.

17. A method for cooling an telecommunications device, comprising the steps of:

inducing air into an enclosure of the device with a first airflow mechanism;

expelling air out of the device with a second airflow mechanism; and

and operating the first air flow mechanism and the second airflow mechanism such that a rate a which the air is induced into the enclosure and a rate at which the air is expelled are controlled to minimize the pressure differential between a pressure within the enclosure and an ambient pressure outside the enclosure.