Drive Tray

• US 20110234064A1
• Filed: 03/23/2010
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Martin-Otto, William F., Farrow, Timothy S., Makley, Albert V., Pamley, Marc R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,330,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 312/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/187 Mounting of fixed and removable disk drives
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/08 Insulation or absorption of undesired vibrations or sounds
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/124 of the single recording/reproducing device, e.g. disk drive, onto a chassis
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/128 of the plurality of recording/reproducing devices, e.g. disk drives, onto a chassis
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/142 by air cooling

Abstract

An exemplary drive tray includes parallel side members; at least one end member connected to the parallel side members where the members collectively form a resilient, substantially rectangular frame for receipt of a drive body; and a pair of parallel side walls extending in a direction normal to a plane defined by the frame where the pair of parallel side walls include engagement features to engage opposing sides of a drive body. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A drive tray comprising:

parallel side members;

at least one end member connected to the parallel side members wherein the members collectively form a resilient, substantially rectangular frame for receipt of a drive body; and

a pair of parallel side walls extending in a direction normal to a plane defined by the frame wherein the pair of parallel side walls comprise engagement features to engage opposing sides of a drive body.

2. The drive tray of claim 1 wherein the engagement features comprise tool-less engagement features.

3. The drive tray of claim 2 wherein the tool-less engagement features comprise dampers configured to damp transmission of vibration energy.

4. The drive tray of claim 1 comprising a pair of parallel end members connected to the parallel side members.

5. The drive tray of claim 1 wherein the parallel side walls comprise rails configured for receipt by a drive bay.

6. An assembly comprising:

a rectangular drive body that comprises a top side, a bottom side and four side walls; and

a drive tray that comprises

a resilient frame configured for receipt of the drive body intermediate the top side and the bottom side and

a pair of parallel side walls with dampers configured to contact two of the four side walls of the drive body and to damp vibrations between the drive tray and the drive body.

7. The assembly of claim 6 further comprising a second rectangular drive body and a second drive tray wherein the second drive body is received by the second drive trays.

8. The assembly of claim 7 wherein the drive bodies, as received by the drive trays, are arranged in a stack wherein the stack comprises an air flow channel between adjacent drive bodies, the air flow channel being unimpeded by the frames of the drive trays.

9. The assembly of claim 8 wherein one of the rectangular drive bodies comprises a length and a width wherein the product of the length and the width approximates a heat transfer surface area for the drive body and wherein the heat transfer surface defines a boundary of the air flow channel.

10. The assembly of claim 8 further comprising an air mover configured to draw air into the air flow channel.

11. The assembly of claim 8 further comprising a housing to house the stack and the air mover.

12. The assembly of claim 11 wherein the housing comprises two or more drive bays configured for receipt of the drive bodies, as received by the drive trays.

13. The assembly of claim 6 wherein the drive tray further comprises one or more finger grips.

14. The assembly of claim 6 wherein the parallel side walls of the drive tray comprise rails configured for receipt by a drive bay.

15. A method comprising:

providing a housing that comprises adjacent drive bays, each drive bay holding a rectangular drive body disposed intermediate a top side and a bottom side in a resilient, substantially rectangular frame of a slidably removable drive tray; and

drawing air into the housing wherein the air flows in channels defined by and between adjacent drive bodies, the channels unimpeded by the drive trays to enhance removal of heat from the drive bodies.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising sensing a temperature and drawing air responsive to the sensing.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the sensing comprises sensing temperature in at least one of the air flow channels.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein each drive body comprises a length and a width wherein the product of the length and the width approximates a heat transfer surface area for the drive body.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein each of the channels is defined in part by a heat transfer surface of a respective one of the drive bodies.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the drawing air comprises expelling air from the housing.