Patents Represented by Attorney Michael Heim
  • Patent number: 5452184
    Abstract: A fastener for securing a printed circuit board to a chassis includes a body portion, legs depending from the body portion, the legs being adapted for removable attachment within holes in the chassis, a hook for slidably engaging a slot on a printed circuit board inserted thereon, and a grounding element for providing an electrical connection between the printed circuit board and a shield on the chassis. The fastener described herein enables one chassis design to accommodate a variety of sizes of printed circuit boards merely by forming holes at particular points on the chassis, thereby avoiding the expense of redesigning a chassis to accommodate a new printed circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Dell USA, L.P.
    Inventors: Erica Scholder, Kevin Troy, Karl Steffes
  • Patent number: 5448143
    Abstract: A sensor circuit for monitoring the operation of a fan in an electronic device includes a current sensor that produces a voltage signal proportional to the magnitude of the current flowing through the fan. The proportional voltage signal is filtered to extract an rms dc signal that then is compared with a minimum and maximum voltage threshold in two voltage comparators. If the voltage of the filtered signal exceeds the maximum threshold value, or is less than the minimum threshold value, a fan failure signal is generated and transmitted to an external monitoring unit. The sensor circuit can be implemented with a standard two-wire fan and interface connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 5, 1995
    Assignee: Dell USA, L.P.
    Inventor: Victor K. Pecone