Circuit board support

• US 6,239,978 B1
• Filed: 10/27/1999
• Issued: 05/29/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Liao, Nien-Chiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vortman, Anatoly
• Application Number:
  US09/428,293
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• Field of Search: 361/679, 361/683-686, 361/724, 361/725, 361/726, 361/727, 361/728, 361/729, 361/730-732, 361/736, 361/740, 361/741, 361/747, 361/748, 361/752, 361/754 , 361/756, 361/759
• US Class Current: 361/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/184 Mounting of motherboards
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1429 for circuits carrying a CPU and adapted to receive expansion cards

Abstract

A circuit board support for mounting a circuit board in an enclosure includes upper and lower rails respectively mounted to top and bottom sides of the enclosure. Each rail defines a plurality of guiding slots. A support panel to which the circuit board is attached forms projections on top and bottom edges thereof for being movably received and guided by the guiding slots of the rails. A locking member is fixed to each rail and has a resilient front section defining a locking hole. The resilient section partially overlaps the support panel whereby when the support panel is moved with respect to the rails by having the projections moving along and guided by the guiding slots to a predetermined position, the locking hole is brought into engagement with a corresponding pin formed on the support panel by elastically deforming the resilient section of the locking member. The resiliency of the resilient section securely maintains the engagement between the locking hole and the pin while allowing quick and ready disengagement of the locking member from the pin for removing the support panel.

Claims

1. A circuit board support adapted to mount a circuit board in an enclosure comprising:

a support panel to which the circuit board is attached, the support panel having top and bottom edges with projections formed thereon and forming at least one pin;

upper and lower rails respectively mounted to top and bottom sides of the enclosure, each rail defining a plurality of slots for movably receiving the projections of the top and bottom edges of the support panel; and

a locking member fixed to at least one of the rail, the locking member having a resilient section in which a hole is defined whereby when the support panel is moved with respect to the rails to a predetermined locked position, the hole engages with a pin formed on the support panel by elastically deforming the resilient section thereby fixing the support panel at the locked position, the engagement being ensured by the resiliency of the resilient section.

2. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 1, wherein each slot of the rails comprises an entry section extending in a direction substantially normal to the support panel for reception of the corresponding projection and a guiding section extending in a direction substantially parallel to the support panel for guiding the movement of the support panel toward the locked position.

3. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 2, wherein the entry section of each slot of the rails forms an inlet opening for receiving the corresponding projection.

4. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper rail comprises an elongate plate perpendicularly extending from an internal wall of the enclosure with the slots defined therein.

5. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 4, wherein the upper rail further comprises a side flange substantially perpendicularly extending from the elongate plate with the locking member fixed thereto.

6. The circuit board support claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower rail comprises an elongate plate supported above and fixed to a bottom panel of the enclosure with the slots defined therein.

7. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lower rail further comprises two side plates extending from the elongated plate and side flanges extending from side plates for being positioned on and fixed to the bottom panel, the locking member being attached to one of the side flanges.

8. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resilient section of the locking member comprises an inclined section for guiding the pin into engagement with the hole thereof.

9. The circuit board support as claimed in claim 1 comprising two locking members respectively fixed to the rails.

10. A device for releasably fixing a support member that supports a circuit board to an enclosure comprising:

at least a slot defined in an internal wall of the enclosure for receiving a corresponding projection formed on the support member for guiding movement of the support member with respect to the enclosure toward a predetermined locked position;

a locking member fixed to the enclosure and having a resilient section movably overlapping the support member, a hole being defined in the resilient section for engaging with a pin extending from the support member when the support member is moved to the locked position thereby securing the support member at the locked position.

11. A computer enclosure comprising:

a chassis having a bottom panel, on which a lower rail is formed, slots being defined in the lower rail;

a disk drive rack fixed to the chassis at a position above the bottom panel, an upper rail being formed on the disk drive rack, slots being defined in the upper rail;

a support panel to which a main board is attached, the support panel having top and bottom edges on which projections are formed for being movably received in the corresponding slots of the upper and lower rails whereby the support panel is moveable with respect to the rails toward a predetermined locked position, a pin being formed on the support panel associated with each rail;

a locking member fixed to each of the rails, each locking member having a resilient section in which a hole is defined for engaging with the corresponding pin of the support panel by elastically deforming the resilient section when the support panel is moved to the locked position, the resiliency of the resilient section ensuring the engagement between the pin and the hole.

12. A computer enclosure assembly comprising:

a chassis including upper and lower rails respectively mounted to upper and bottom sides of the chassis, said upper rail and said lower rail defining slots opposite to each other in a vertical direction, each of said slots defining an L-shaped configuration with an entry section forming an inlet opening therein;

a support panel to which a printed circuit board is attached, said support panel defining top and bottom edges with therebetween a vertical dimension in compliance with a distance between said upper and lower rails, projections being formed on said top and bottom edges, respectively; and

locking means provided adjacent to said upper and lower rails;

whereby

the support panel is loaded between said upper and lower rails, in a lateral direction, with projections respectively entering the corresponding slots from the inlets thereof, and further moved along the corresponding slots in a front-to-back direction under the condition of the top and bottom edges respectively abutting against the corresponding upper and lower rails, until the locking means latchably engages corresponding portions of the support panel for preventing backward movement of the support panel with regard to the upper and lower rails along said front-to-back direction.