Computer system cooling configuration

• US 6,272,007 B1
• Filed: 06/28/1999
• Issued: 08/07/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Lam, Alan, Tantoush, Mohammed, Winick, Alan Lee, Leung, Winiie C., Nishtala, Satyanarayana, Kitlas, Kenneth, Lown, Kenneth A., Patel, Anita
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duong, Hung Van
• Application Number:
  US09/340,962
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: 361/683, 361/687, 361/727, 361/725, 361/726, 361/724, 361/684-686, 361/740, 361/759, 248/551-553, 312/216, 312/218, 70/57--58, 70/85
• US Class Current: 361/679.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/181 Enclosures for portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/184 Mounting of motherboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/185 Mounting of expansion boards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/186 Securing of expansion boards in correspondence to slots provided at the computer enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means

Abstract

A computer system housing where a vertical printed circuit board, e.g., a riser card, is inserted into a socket on a computer system motherboard. Some internal space within the housing may allow optimization of system memory capacity through packing of additional memory modules on the riser card. The additional memory may be mounted on the riser card and may reside in the vertical space created between the riser card and the directly-mounted memory on the motherboard. The computer system housing further includes a chassis that may be partitioned into two separate sub-chassis for proper positioning of one or more cooling fans as well as to accommodate changes in computer system configurations with minimized retooling of the chassis. The cooling fans may be mounted at such locations on the chassis that allow optimization of air circulation and, hence, cooling within the housing. However, extra cooling fan(s) for the additional memory on the riser card may not be necessary in view of the creation of dedicated cooling channels within the housing by an efficient placement of the cooling fans. The optimization of fan placement within the housing results in efficient cooling of various system components and allows for increase in system component packing density without a similar increase in the number of cooling fans.

Claims

1. A computer system housing comprising:

a chassis;

a first circuit board mounted on a wall of said chassis, wherein said first circuit board comprises;

one or more first sockets mounted on said first circuit board,

one or more first memory cards, wherein each of said one or more first memory cards is inserted into a corresponding one of said one or more first sockets, wherein upon insertion said each of said one or more first memory cards is oriented substantially perpendicularly to said first circuit board, and

a second socket mounted on said first circuit board and in parallel to said one or more first sockets; and

a second circuit board inserted into said second socket and in parallel to said one or more first memory cards, wherein said second circuit board comprises;

one or more third sockets mounted on said second circuit board, and

one or more second memory cards, wherein each of said one or more second memory cards is inserted into a corresponding one of said one or more third sockets, and wherein upon insertion said each of said one or more second memory cards is oriented substantially perpendicularly to said second circuit board and remains in a vertical space between said second circuit board and one of said one or more first memory cards that is inserted nearest to said second circuit board on said first circuit board.

2. The computer system housing as in claim 1, further comprising:

a shroud mounted on said first circuit board, wherein the top of said shroud is aligned to said second socket, and wherein said second circuit board is screwed on the top of said shroud as part of insertion thereof into said second socket.

3. The computer system housing as in claim 2, wherein said first circuit board is a computer system motherboard.

4. The computer system housing according to claim 3, wherein said motherboard comprises one or more fourth sockets mounted thereon, said computer system housing further comprising:

one or more processor modules housed within said shroud, wherein each of said one or more processor modules is inserted into a corresponding one of said one or more fourth sockets.

5. The computer system housing of claim 3, further comprising:

a support frame positioned between said motherboard and said wall of said chassis, wherein said support frame is mounted on said wall of said chassis and said motherboard is mounted on said support frame, and wherein said support frame is of substantially the same size a said motherboard.

6. The computer system housing according to claim 5, wherein said support frame is constructed of sheet metal.

7. The computer system housing as in claim 3, wherein said chassis comprises:

a front sub-chassis formed of a first plurality of walls; and

a rear sub-chassis formed of a second plurality of walls, wherein said wall of said chassis is a first one of said second plurality of walls, wherein said rear sub-chassis is fastened to said front sub-chassis, and wherein a second one of said second plurality of walls partitions said front and said rear sub-chassis when said rear sub-chassis is fastened to said front sub-chassis.

8. The computer system housing of claim 7, further comprising:

one or more cooling fans, wherein said second one of said second plurality of walls includes one or more windows therein, and wherein each of said one or more cooling fans is housed within a corresponding one of said one or more windows.

9. A computer system housing comprising:

a chassis;

a first circuit board coupled to the chassis;

a first socket mounted on the first circuit board;

a first card removably coupled to the first socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the first circuit board;

a second socket mounted on the circuit board;

a second circuit board removably coupled to the second socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the first circuit board;

a third socket mounted on the second circuit board;

a second card removably coupled to the third socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the second circuit board and in a substantially parallel orientation relative to the first circuit board.

10. The computer system housing of claim 9, wherein a portion of the second card extends over a portion of the first card.

11. The computer system housing of claim 9, wherein the first card comprises a memory card.

12. The computer system housing of claim 9, wherein the first card comprises a memory card.

13. The computer system housing of claim 9, further comprising a shroud mounted on the motherboard adjacent to the second socket, wherein a fastener mounts the circuit board to the shroud.

14. The computer system housing of claim 9, wherein the fastener comprises a torque-limiting screw.

15. The computer system housing of claim 13, further comprising a processor module coupled to the motherboard within the shroud.

16. A computer comprising:

a chassis;

a computer system motherboard coupled to the chassis;

a first socket mounted on the motherboard;

a first card removably coupled to the first socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the motherboard;

a second socket mounted on the motherboard;

a circuit board removably coupled to the second socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the motherboard;

a third socket mounted on the circuit board;

a second card removably coupled to the third socket in a substantially perpendicular orientation relative to the circuit board and in a substantially parallel orientation relative to the motherboard.

17. The computer of claim 16, wherein the first card comprises a memory card.

18. The computer of claim 16, wherein the second card comprises a memory card.

19. The computer of claim 16, further comprising a processor coupled to the motherboard.

20. The computer of claim 19, further comprising a shroud mounted to the motherboard, and wherein the circuit board mounts by a fastener to the shroud.