Chassis for storage devices

• US 9,326,415 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• 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
• Application Number:
  US14/037,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20150077924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 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 storage compartment; a central partition of the storage compartment, wherein the central partition of the storage compartment provides a housing for a number of connectors for respectively connecting a number of digital data storage devices into both sides of the central partition of the storage compartment.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising

a chassis defining a storage compartment;

a printed circuit board,

wherein the printed circuit board is positioned adjacent to a second side of a floor of the storage compartment; 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 adjacent to a first side of the floor opposite the second side of the floor.

2. 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 first side of the floor,

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

3. The apparatus of claim 1,

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.

4. The apparatus of claim 3,

wherein each of the plurality of hot-swappable fans comprises a fan housing with a recess, and

wherein the recess facilitates toolless fan extraction.

5. 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 printed circuit board.

6. The apparatus of claim 1,

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

7. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the apparatus is configured for network-attached storage, direct-attached storage, or both network-attached storage and direct-attached storage.

8. An apparatus, comprising

a storage compartment;

a central partition of the storage compartment,

wherein the central partition provides a housing for a plurality of connectors for respectively connecting a plurality of digital data storage devices into each of two sides of the central partition; and

a floor of the storage compartment,

wherein the plurality of connectors extend through the floor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising

a plurality of hot-swappable fans mounted in a rear panel of the storage compartment,

wherein each of the plurality of hot-swappable fans comprises a fan housing with a recess, and

wherein the recess facilitates toolless fan extraction.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising

a printed circuited board,

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

11. The apparatus of claim 10, 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 an opposite side of the floor to that of the printed circuit board,

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

12. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising

a motherboard compartment configured for housing a motherboard,

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

wherein the plurality of connectors for respectively connecting a plurality of digital data storage devices are respectively connected to a plurality of connectors on the motherboard by cables positioned adjacent to the printed circuit board.

13. The apparatus of claim 12,

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

14. The apparatus of claim 13,

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

15. A kit, comprising

a rack-mountable chassis defining a storage compartment comprising a floor and a central partition;

and

a plurality of digital data storage devices,

wherein the storage compartment is configured for housing the plurality of storage devices on a first side of the floor with C₂ symmetry about the central partition, and

wherein a plurality of connectors for respectively connecting the plurality of storage devices extend through the floor from a printed circuit board on a second side of the floor.

16. The kit of claim 15, further comprising

a plurality of sliders respectively fastened to the 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 the plurality of digital data storage devices.

17. The kit of claim 15,

wherein the plurality of digital data storage devices are selected from the group consisting of hard disk drives, solid state drives, hybrid drives, or a combination of drives thereof.

18. The kit of claim 15, further comprising

a depth-adjustable rail assembly,

wherein the rail assembly is configured for fastening to the rack-mountable chassis and mounting the rack-mountable chassis in a 4-post, 19-inch rack.

19. The kit of claim 18,

wherein the rail-assembly further comprises a cable management system for managing cables when connected to a hardware interface at a rear end of the rack-mountable chassis.

20. The kit of claim 18, further comprising

one or more accessories selected from a group consisting of power cables;

network cables;

hardware keys or dongles;

manuals or guides; and

identification stickers for the digital data storage devices.