Electronics equipment cabinet

• US 7,312,993 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: De Cecco, Stefano, Bundza, Nicholas Adam, Arlotta, Angelo
• Primary Examiner(s): CHERVINSKY, BORIS LEO
• Application Number:
  US11/313,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20070144704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 361/696
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/206 Air circulating in closed loop within cabinets wherein heat is removed through air-to-air heat-exchanger

Abstract

A cabinet for electronics equipment, comprising: a compartment for installing the electronics equipment; a door for accessing the compartment; an outer duct mounted on an outer surface of the door for directing exterior air around a heat exchanger core mounted in the door, the heat exchanger core for transferring heat from interior air in the compartment to the exterior air to thereby cool the interior air; an exhaust duct extending over a top surface of the compartment and pneumatically coupling with the outer duct when the door is in a closed position, the exhaust duct for exhausting the exterior air and for reducing solar loading on the top surface by transferring heat absorbed by the exhaust duct to the exterior air passing therethrough; and, one or more fans for forcing the exterior air in through the outer duct, around the heat exchanger core, and out through the exhaust duct, the one or more fans being mounted between the outer duct and the exhaust duct to thereby attenuate noise emitted by the one or more fans.

Claims

1. A cabinet for electronics equipment, comprising:

a compartment for installing the electronics equipment;

a door for accessing the compartment;

an outer duct mounted on an outer surface of the door for directing exterior air around a heat exchanger core mounted in the door, the heat exchanger core for transferring heat from interior air in the compartment to the exterior air to thereby cool the interior air;

an exhaust duct extending over a top surface of the compartment and pneumatically coupling with the outer duct when the door is in a closed position, the exhaust duct for exhausting the exterior air and for reducing solar loading on the top surface by transferring heat absorbed by the exhaust duct to the exterior air passing therethrough; and

,

one or more fans for forcing the exterior air in through the outer duct, around the heat exchanger core, and out through the exhaust duct, the one or more fans being mounted between the outer duct and the exhaust duct to thereby attenuate noise emitted by the one or more fans.

2. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising an inner duct mounted on an inner surface of the door for circulating the interior air over the heat exchanger core.

3. The cabinet of claim 2 and further comprising one or more fans for forcing the interior air through the inner duct.

4. The cabinet of claim 3 wherein the one or more fans are disposed at least one of a lower outlet opening in the inner duct and an upper inlet opening of the inner duct.

5. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the outer duct has a lower inlet opening and an upper outlet opening, wherein the exhaust duct has a front inlet opening and a rear outlet opening, and wherein the one or more fans are disposed between the upper outlet opening and the front inlet opening.

6. The cabinet of claim 2 wherein the heater exchanger core, the inner duct, and the outer duct comprise a heat exchanger.

7. The cabinet of claim 6 wherein the heat exchanger core has at least one of fins disposed thereon and corrugations formed therein to improve thermal efficiency by increasing surface area.

8. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the door is hinge mounted to the compartment.

9. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the door is an inner door and further comprising an outer door mounted over the inner door and spaced therefrom to form a door intake duct, a lower inlet opening of the outer duct opening into the door intake duct, the outer door having at least one ventilation opening to allow entry of the exterior air into the door intake duct.

10. The cabinet of claim 9 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to an inner surface of the outer door.

11. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to an inner surface of the exhaust duct.

12. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to at least one inner surface of the compartment.

13. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the inner door extends over a front inlet opening of the exhaust duct and wherein an opening is provided in the inner door to allow for pneumatic coupling of the outer duct to the front inlet opening of the exhaust duct.

14. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising a battery compartment for installing batteries to supply DC power to the electronics equipment.

15. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising a splice compartment for installing terminal blocks for terminating cables to be accessed by the electronics equipment.

16. The cabinet of claim 1 and further comprising a cable entry compartment for receiving cables to be terminated and to be accessed by the electronics equipment.

17. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the electronics equipment is telecommunications electronics equipment.

18. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the cabinet is a weatherproofed cabinet.

19. The cabinet of claim 6 wherein the heat exchanger is a counterflow heat exchanger.

20. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the lower inlet opening of the outer duct is spaced from the at least one ventilation opening in the outer door.

21. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the outer duct has a lower inlet opening and the exhaust duct has a rear outlet opening and wherein the lower inlet opening and the rear outlet opening are located on opposite sides of the cabinet.

22. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the one or more fans are disposed in a fan module coupled between the outer duct and the exhaust duct.

23. The cabinet of claim 2 and further comprising at least one baffle mounted in the compartment to distribute the interior air from a lower outlet opening of the inner duct over the electronic equipment.

24. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the door is essentially vertical and the exhaust duct is essentially horizontal.

25. The cabinet of claim 1 wherein the compartment is formed in the cabinet.

26. A cabinet for electronics equipment, comprising:

a compartment for installing the electronics equipment;

an exhaust duct extending over a top surface of the compartment;

a door having an open position for providing access to the compartment and a closed position for separating interior air in the compartment from exterior air without, the door having an inner surface facing the interior of the compartment when the door is in the closed position and an outer surface;

a heat exchanger core mounted in the door for transferring heat from the interior air to the exterior air;

an inner duct mounted on the inner surface for circulating the interior air over an inner surface of the heat exchanger core; and

,

an outer duct mounted on the outer surface and pneumatically coupled to the exhaust duct when the door is in the closed position, the outer duct and the exhaust duct for passing the exterior air over an outer surface of the heat exchanger core and over an inner surface of the exhaust duct to absorb heat therefrom to thereby cool the interior air.

27. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising one or more fans for forcing the interior air through the inner duct.

28. The cabinet of claim 27 wherein the one or more fans are disposed in the inner duct.

29. The cabinet of claim 27 wherein the inner duct has an upper inlet opening and a lower outlet opening and wherein the one or more fans are disposed at least one of the upper inlet opening and the lower outlet opening.

30. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising one or more fans for forcing the exterior air through the outer duct and exhaust duct.

31. The cabinet of claim 30 wherein the one or more fans are disposed in the outer duct.

32. The cabinet of claim 30 wherein the outer duct has a lower inlet opening and an upper outlet opening, wherein the exhaust duct has a front inlet opening and a rear outlet opening, and wherein the one or more fans are disposed between the upper outlet opening and the front inlet opening.

33. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the heater exchanger core, the inner duct, and the outer duct comprise a heat exchanger.

34. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein at least one of the inner and outer surfaces of the heat exchanger core has at least one of fins disposed thereon and corrugations formed therein to improve thermal efficiency by increasing surface area.

35. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the door is hinge mounted to the compartment.

36. The cabinet of claim 35 wherein the door is an inner door and further comprising an outer door mounted over the inner door and spaced therefrom to form a door intake duct, a lower inlet opening of the outer duct opening into the door intake duct, the outer door having at least one ventilation opening to allow entry of the exterior air into the door intake duct.

37. The cabinet of claim 36 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to an inner surface of the outer door.

38. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to the inner surface of the exhaust duct.

39. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising at least one of sound insulation and thermal insulation applied to at least one inner surface of the compartment.

40. The cabinet of claim 36 wherein the inner door extends over a front inlet opening of the exhaust duct and wherein an opening is provided in the inner door to allow for the pneumatic coupling of the outer duct to the front inlet opening of the exhaust duct.

41. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising a battery compartment for installing batteries to supply DC power to the electronics equipment.

42. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising a splice compartment for installing terminal blocks for terminating cables to be accessed by the electronics equipment.

43. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising a cable entry compartment for receiving cables to be terminated and to be accessed by the electronics equipment.

44. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the electronics equipment is telecommunications electronics equipment.

45. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the cabinet is a weatherproofed cabinet.

46. The cabinet of claim 33 wherein the heat exchanger is a counterflow heat exchanger.

47. The cabinet of claim 36 wherein the lower inlet opening of the outer duct is spaced from the at least one ventilation opening in the outer door.

48. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the outer duct has a lower inlet opening and the exhaust duct has a rear outlet opening and wherein the lower inlet opening and the rear outlet opening are located on opposite sides of the cabinet.

49. The cabinet of claim 30 wherein the one or more fans are disposed in a fan module coupled between the outer duct and the exhaust duct.

50. The cabinet of claim 26 and further comprising at least one baffle mounted in the compartment to distribute the interior air from a lower outlet opening of the inner duct over the electronic equipment.

51. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the door is essentially vertical and the exhaust duct is essentially horizontal.

52. The cabinet of claim 26 wherein the compartment is formed in the cabinet.