Chassis for storage devices

• US 9,232,677 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2013
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Rauline, Jean Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Sinclair, David M
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROWN, ROBERT D
• Application Number:
  US14/027,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20150077923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 843 Days
• Field of Search: 361/679.39, 361/679.33
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/126 Arrangements for providing electrical connections, e.g. connectors, cables, switches
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/128 of the plurality of recording/reproducing devices, e.g. disk drives, onto a chassis
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1489 characterized by the mounting of blades therein, e.g. brackets, rails, trays H05K7/1491 takes precedence

Abstract

Provided herein is an apparatus, including a chassis defining a storage compartment; a printed circuit board, wherein the printed circuit board is substantially parallel to a floor of the storage compartment; and a number of connectors mounted on the printed circuit board, wherein the number of connectors are configured to respectively connect to a number of digital data storage devices oriented substantially parallel to the printed circuit board.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising

a chassis defining a storage compartment;

a printed circuit board,

wherein the printed circuit board is substantially parallel to a floor of the storage compartment,

wherein the floor is configured to support a plurality of digital data storage devices on one side of the floor and the printed circuit board on the opposite side of the floor; and

a plurality of connectors mounted on the printed circuit board,

wherein the plurality of connectors are configured to respectively connect to a plurality of digital data storage devices oriented substantially parallel to the printed circuit board.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the plurality of connectors are staggeredly mounted on the printed circuit board with C₂ symmetry.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising

a plurality of sliders configured to respectively fasten to a plurality of digital data storage devices and

a plurality of guides mounted on the one side of the floor,

wherein the sliders and the guides facilitate hot swapping of digital data storage devices.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising

a motherboard compartment separated from the storage compartment by a rear panel of the storage compartment,

wherein the plurality of connectors mounted on the printed circuit board are respectively connected to a plurality of connectors mounted on a motherboard in the motherboard compartment by cables positioned adjacent to the opposite side of the floor.

5. The apparatus of claim 4,

wherein the storage compartment further comprises a plurality of hot-swappable fans mounted in the rear panel for cooling the storage compartment.

6. The apparatus of claim 3,

wherein the chassis comprises a 1 U chassis configured for mounting in a 4-post, 19-inch rack on a rail assembly.

20. The apparatus of claim 6,

wherein the storage compartment is configured for housing eight 3.5-inch hard disk drives.

7. An apparatus, comprising

a chassis providing an enclosure;

a storage compartment of the enclosure,

wherein a floor of the storage compartment is configured to bear a plurality of digital data storage devices on a first side of the floor; and

a printed circuit board assembly (“

PCBA”

) comprising a printed circuit board and a plurality of PCBA connectors for respectively connecting a plurality of digital data storage devices,

wherein the printed circuit board is substantially parallel with a second side of the floor opposite the first side of the floor, and

wherein the plurality of PCBA connectors are staggeredly arranged on the printed circuit board with 2-fold rotational symmetry.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising

a plurality of sliders configured to respectively fasten to a plurality of digital data storage devices and

a plurality of guides mounted on the first side of the floor,

wherein the sliders and the guides facilitate hot swapping of digital data storage devices.

9. The apparatus of claim 8,

wherein the storage compartment further comprises a plurality of hot-swappable fans mounted in a rear panel of the storage compartment for cooling the storage compartment.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising

a motherboard compartment of the enclosure for housing a motherboard,

wherein the motherboard compartment is separated from the storage compartment by the rear panel of the storage compartment, and

wherein the plurality of PCBA connectors are respectively connected to a plurality of motherboard connectors by cables positioned adjacent to the second side of the floor.

11. The apparatus of claim 7,

wherein the chassis comprises a 1-rack unit chassis configured for mounting in a 4-post, 19-inch rack on a rail assembly.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising

a cable management system for managing power and network cables,

wherein the cable management system is coupled to the rail assembly.

18. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising

a motherboard compartment of the enclosure for housing a motherboard,

wherein the motherboard compartment is separated from the storage compartment by the rear panel of the storage compartment, and

wherein the motherboard compartment comprises a pair of hot-swappable power supplies configured for failover.

19. The apparatus of claim 18,

wherein each power supply of the pair of hot-swappable power supplies comprises a cooling system comprising one or more fans.

13. An apparatus, comprising

a rack-mount chassis;

a storage compartment defined by the rack-mount chassis for housing a plurality of storage devices substantially parallel and immediately adjacent to a first side of a floor of the storage compartment; and

a plurality of substantially right-angled connectors mounted on a printed circuit board configured to respectively attach a plurality of storage devices to the printed circuit board,

wherein the printed circuit board is substantially parallel and immediately adjacent to a second side of the floor opposite the first side of the floor.

14. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the plurality of substantially right-angled connectors are staggeredly mounted on the printed circuit board with C₂ symmetry.

15. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the storage compartment further comprises a plurality of hot-swappable fans mounted in a rear panel of the storage compartment.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising

a motherboard compartment defined by the rack-mount chassis,

wherein the motherboard compartment is separated from the storage compartment by a rear panel of the storage compartment, and

wherein the plurality of substantially right-angled connectors mounted on the printed circuit board are respectively attached to a plurality of connectors mounted on a motherboard in the motherboard compartment by cables positioned adjacent to the second side of the floor.

17. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the chassis comprises a 1 U chassis configured for mounting in a 4-post rack on a rail assembly.