AC interface for electrical equipment racks

• US 6,416,356 B1
• Filed: 06/02/2000
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vertiv Corporation (Vertiv Holdings Co.)
• Original Assignee: Astec International Limited (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Bellemare, Denis, Hutchins, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Sircus, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): WEBB, BRIAN SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US09/585,904
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 439/532, 439/716, 439/712, 361/727, 361/724, 361/725
• US Class Current: 439/532
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/7088 Arrangements for power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 9/2491 Terminal blocks structurally associated with plugs or sockets

Abstract

In a power converter rack in which power converters of varying heights are stacked, a selectably vertically positionable AC connector module is provided. The AC connector module releasably hooks into apertures in a vertical mounting strip attached to the rack adjacent to an AC cable duct. The AC connector module has a terminal block to which an AC cable can be attached, and a contact block with female power contacts and a protruding grounding pin that makes first contact with an equipment chassis. The grounding pin also has a beveled tip to align the chassis with the AC connector module as it is slid into place in the rack.

Claims

1. An AC power connecting system for electrical equipment racks, comprising:

a) a rack arranged to support a plurality of equipment chassis at selectable heights, said rack having a vertically extending connector mounting strip;

b) said mounting strip having a plurality of closely vertically spaced apertures formed therein;

c) an AC connector module arranged to be removably mounted on said mounting strip at a selected height, said connector module including;

i) a body having a rear wall and a side wall and defining an opening through which AC power supply wires can be inserted;

ii) a rail extending outwardly from said rear and side walls and arranged and dimensioned so as to engage one of said apertures and cooperate therewith to prevent vertical and horizontal forward and rearward movement of said body when said rail is engaged with said aperture; and

iii) a resilient locking tab on said body arranged to releasably engage an edge of said aperture to hold said body in engagement with said aperture; and

d) a contact block arranged to mate with a device requiring AC power.

2. The system of claim 1, in which said AC connector module further includes:

i) a terminal block to which said AC power supply wires are attached; and

ii) a printed circuit card mounted in said body, said terminal block being mounted on said printed circuit card, said printed circuit card being arrayed to provide interconnections between said terminal block and said contact block.

3. The system of claim 2, in which said contact block includes a plurality of contacts, and further includes a grounding and aligning pin which has a beveled tip and protrudes from said contact block sufficiently far to be the first element of said AC connector module to engage and align the device being plugged thereinto.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the device is an equipment chassis and wherein said grounding and aligning pin has a beveled tip which engages an equipment chassis to align it with said AC connector module as said chassis is plugged into said AC connector module.

5. The system of claim 1, in which said rack includes an enclosed vertical cable duct adjacent and parallel to said mounting strip, said cable duct having a wall portion with knock-out openings at heights corresponding to said apertures on said mounting strip, whereby individual AC cables can be brought out from said duct adjacent said AC connector modules.

6. The system of claim 5, in which said AC connector modules include cable clips mounted thereon exteriorly thereof to hold said AC cables against stress as each is coupled to a respective one of said AC connector modules.

7. The system of claim 1, in which said mounting strip is of U-shaped cross section with a base plate and forwardly extending flanges, said plurality of apertures having a first plurality of apertures being formed in said base plate and extending into one of said flanges and a second plurality of apertures extending from said base plate into the other of said flanges.