Apparatus and Method for Housing Electronic Equipment and Increasing Floor Space Utilization
An electronic equipment rack allows electronic equipment to be hung vertically to save space for deep components. This is done by providing a vertical rack apparatus with horizontal side panels on which components are mounted vertically. The side panels of the rack are shorter than the depth of the components to be mounted on, to, or within the panels, thus allowing space to be saved. The rack can be expanded based on user's equipment growth. The apparatus can be mounted on a wall or on a standard EIA relay rack. The apparatus has cable management for equipment that fits into wire channels and allows having a patch panel mounted without taking up a “U” space in the apparatus itself. The apparatus can include a built-in level for ease of mounting, and an integrated earth grounding stud.
Priority is claimed to Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/926,384 filed on Apr. 26, 2007 entitled Apparatus and Method for Housing Electronic Equipment for High Density which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe disclosed subject matter relates generally to a rack for allowing computer equipment to be mounted vertically to save floor space.
BACKGROUNDThe computer industry focuses on manufacturing modular components with uniform widths and incremental heights, expressed as a “U” height where 1U equals 1.75 inches. This invariably results in standard depth cabinets. Thus, each U space is an industry standard 1.75 inches—6U depth would be 14 inches, 8U depth would be 17.5 inches, 10U depth would be 21 inches, and so on. Standard cabinets usually mount components horizontally and have from 25 to 34 inches in allowable component depth, with overall cabinet depths as much as 40 inches. The U height faces the front of a cabinet, and 40U to 42U are available in standard cabinets. In larger “Data Center” applications, these cabinets can house dozens to hundreds of U spaces in equipment. Because these cabinets mount modular components horizontally, they waste a lot of space.
SUMMARYDisclosed is a rack for safely securing industry standard rack mounted electronic equipment of all types and system configurations in a non-typical manner, in this case, vertically versus horizontally, allowing substantial savings in required floor space when compared to other equipment cabinets. Our rack can be used in any application and is particularly suited for small and mid-sized companies that need only 4U to 10U in equipment storage and typically do not have a dedicated room or closet for such equipment. However, our rack can provide more U space as required.
Standard full size, horizontal mount, cabinets need access to front and back doors and often side panels, thus increasing actual floor space requirements even more. To meet space requirements our novel equipment rack allows rack mount form factored equipment to be mounted vertically, instead of horizontally, as a system in a secured environment and allows up to 400 pounds of rack mount form factored equipment to be mounted. Our rack has interchangeable 4U, 6U and 8U bracket sets, bottom vented panel or bottom fan tray, top lockable cover, and utilizes a common back plate, or base, with a front panel that includes a built-in level for ease of mounting. The rack has an effective working depth of 26 inches for the use of all rack mount form factored equipment, without restriction as to equipment function. Examples include, without limitation, fiber optic nodes, phone systems, broadband hubs, power conditioning, power backup, power distribution and data networking. This working depth is the vertical dimension in our application and can be expanded based on the user's equipment growth. The apparatus can be mounted on any solid surface such as a wall or a relay rack, for example a two-post rack, and is easily installed by a single technician. The rack can be implemented in a commercial version or a secure version.
Commercial Version of RackIn one implementation, our rack allows 4U of vertically mounted rack mount form factored equipment to be mounted in an apparatus with a total depth from wall of only 11 inches. In addition, the apparatus includes an additional 2U of patch panel space available integrated in the main back plate, or base. The rack can also include an integrated common earth grounding stud on the base for safety.
Our rack allows the use of all rack mount form factored equipment to be optimized in restricted access as well as space applications. This is done by an equipment frame substantially improving the use of all rack mountable equipment optimized in restricted space applications.
Our rack further allows the use of interchangeable support arms in 4U to 10U (or other suitable dimension) increments that allow for expansion without full replacement of rack mount form factored systems and can be mounted on any solid flat vertical surface and industry standard 19 inch relay racks, e.g., two-post racks. Solid flat surfaces our rack can be mounted on include, but are not limited to, walls such as poured concrete, concrete block, brick and gypsum with wood studs 16 inches on center. An integrated standard mounting pattern for 1U or 2U CAT5e patch panels further increases installation efficiency and space utilization of our system. When used with integrated cable management bridge lances to dress and tie down both power and data cabling, this further increases installation efficiency and space utilization of cabinet systems.
Our rack also allows data and power cabling access from top, bottom or back. Further, the back panel allows feed through of data cabling and airflow.
When our rack is used as taught herein, rack mount form factored equipment can be optimized in restricted space applications with two-post mounting configured “back to back”. In this configuration two-post racks can be used. As one example, the two-post rack can be comprised of extruded aluminum with threaded holes on both front and back faces, materials other than aluminum can be used. The rack can mount through this hole pattern and can be set flush to the mounting surface for back-to back installation for increased component density.
Another feature of our rack is threaded holes (2 per side in one embodiment) in the back plate to allow retainer screws to be installed through the brackets to keep the brackets from dislodging during equipment installation, service or by accidental impacts.
Secure Version of RackOur rack can also be made in one or more secure versions for installation in places like prison facilities and can have extra levels of tamper resistance that make the rack very difficult to damage, open by picking or prying, disable, sabotage, and other activities that intended to prevent internal equipment from operating. This differentiates a secure version from a commercial version.
For example, while a commercial version of the rack could have louvers or a venting hole pattern on the top part of the base, and/or the sides or the top cover, for convection cooling, a secure version can include tamper resistance by adding baffling of ventilation areas, for example in both top and bottom vent patterns.
As another example, while a commercial version of our rack can have a bottom fan tray that would have fans with wire grills and be applicable in most situations, a secure version can have an additional layer on the outside containing offset baffles wherein the fans cannot be tampered with or easily splashed with liquids.
Likewise, a commercial version could have a single cam lock without a security collar or escutcheon and be acceptable for most situations. The secure version can have two cam locks with security collars and the standard pivoting cam lever replaced with a custom double cam, thus allowing four points of contact for locking the cover of the cabinet.
As yet another example, the commercial version could have 2U of space to allow patch panel rack mountable components in most situations, whereas the secure version could prevent using this space on the base so that the secure cover of the rack can use the inside edges to align the cover and thus improve tamper resistance of the cover.
Finally, the rack can be designed to be assembled in an overlapping fashion which allows no exposed hardware throughout system with the last piece to be assembled being the first to be removed in sequence in A lockable cover, with double cams as set forth above. This feature would usually have no exposed mounting hardware, and nothing to disassemble. Thus it would not allow unauthorized access, damage or theft. In this design the back plate or base can be mounted to a wall or two-post rack. The side brackets would slip into place, as discussed herein, secured in place by screws, such as set screws in one example. The top cover locks would slide through the front panel cut-outs, can fully enclose the space, and can be secured with one or two locks as set forth above.
The rack has an optional fan in a fan tray, but can have convection cooling with a vented bottom panel of the base, with vented upper sides of the base if desired. There can be fans housed in the bottom of the panel assembly of the base to force air in or out. There can also be a forced air fan assembly in the bottom panel assembly with an internal thermal switch for increased efficiency and fan life. A thermal sensor switch can be mounted in side the rack cabinet and can turn on when internal temperature reaches a certain level and shut off when the temperature drops to a predetermined level; such as, for example, 25 degrees F. Thus the fan would run only when needed, increasing service life.
Alternatively, the rack can be mounted to a cinder block or other approved hollow wall using hole pattern C shown in
For installation to an approved hollow wall, one would place the base against the wall in the preferred location. Using the integrated level 5, one would adjust the panel to level and then mark a minimum of the two top and bottom ½ inch or other suitable dimension clearance hole (hole C). The marked holes can be drilled and compression studs or other associated inserts can be applied as required. The base can be lifted and the bolts can hand tightened, with fender washers, most of the way into the stud and then all screws can be tightened. An approved hollow wall application is considered to be either a cinder block wall or NEC type ¾ inch plywood electrical panel backing using toggle bolts for a safely fully rated load of the rack.
For mounting on a block wall, ¼ inch by 3 inch toggle bolts can be used to support the base of the rack. The hollow pocket in the block should be located so that the toggle bolt can open properly to support the weight. Toggle bolt clearance hole can be ½ inch.
As seen in
Another alternate embodiment is seen in
While the rack has been shown in a preferred embodiment, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Various types of uninterruptible power supplies, automatic transfer switches, maintenance bypass panels, and various other power-related products, could be included. Changes to physical dimensions, increased power capability, alternative plugs and ports, and appropriate cord lengths can also be made. In addition, singular systems, such as a UPS with SNMP, can be configured. Additional modifications can include redundant UPSS, automatic transfer switches, power distribution units, and other ancillary equipment.
Claims
1. An equipment rack for mounting at least one component having a height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension, said equipment rack comprising:
- a back plate capable of being mounted to a surface, said back plate capable of having brackets mounted thereto; and
- two brackets each capable of being mounted to said back plate, each of said brackets, when mounted to said back plate, having a horizontal dimension shorter than said depth dimension, for supporting said at least one component with said height dimension substantially parallel to said horizontal dimension.
2. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said surface is a two-post rack.
3. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said surface is a wall.
4. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said back plate has a top panel, and includes cable access from said top panel.
5. The equipment rack of claim 1 further including cable management bridge lances on said back plate for dressing and tying down cables.
6. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said back plate has a mounting pattern for at least one CAT5e patch panel and at least one power distribution unit.
7. The equipment rack of claim 1 including a built-in level.
8. The equipment rack of claim 7 wherein said built-in level is on said back plate.
9. The equipment rack of claim 1 including a grounding stud.
10. The equipment rack of claim 9 wherein said grounding stud is on said back plate.
11. The equipment rack of claim 1 where said back plate includes a rear panel having access for allowing pass-through cable routing.
12. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said back plate includes slots for allowing said back plate to be secured to wood surfaces by a fastener.
13. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said back plate includes holes for allowing mounting to a hollow wall by toggle bolts.
14. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said back plate includes holes for allowing said back plate to be mounted on a two-post rack by fasteners.
15. The equipment rack of claim 1 wherein said brackets include tabs and said back plate includes cutouts, and said brackets are attachable to said back plate by nesting said tabs in said cutouts.
16. The equipment rack of claim 1 further including a fan tray attached to the bottom of said back plate for cooling said equipment.
17. An equipment rack for mounting at least one component, said component having height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension, said equipment rack comprising:
- a back plate mountable to a surface, said back plate capable of having brackets mounted thereto;
- two brackets each capable of being mounted to said back plate, each said brackets having a surface oriented as a top surface when mounted to said back plate, the combination of said two brackets when mounted to said back plate capable of having mounted thereto said component oriented with said height dimension substantially parallel to said top surface of said brackets.
18. An equipment rack capable of being mounted in back-to-back relationship with another equipment rack, each of said racks for mounting at least one component having a height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension,
- wherein each of said equipment racks comprises (i) a back plate mountable on a surface, said back plate capable of having brackets mounted thereto, and (ii)two brackets each capable of being mounted to said back plate, each said bracket having a surface oriented as a top surface when mounted to said back plate, the combination of said two brackets, when said brackets are mounted to said back plate, capable of having mounted thereto said component oriented with said height dimension substantially parallel to said top surface of said brackets.
19. The combination of two equipment racks of claim 18 mounted to a rack in back-to-back relationship.
20. An equipment rack capable of being mounted in back-to-back relationship to each other, each of said racks for mounting at least one component having a height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension,
- wherein each of said equipment racks comprises (i) a back plate capable of being mounted to a surface, said back plate capable of having brackets mounted thereto, and (ii) two brackets each capable of being mounted to said back plate, each of said brackets, when mounted to said back plate, having a horizontal dimension shorter than said depth dimension for supporting said at least one component with said height dimension substantially parallel to said horizontal dimension.
21. The combination of two equipment racks of claim 20 mounted to a rack in back-to-back relationship.
22. An equipment rack for mounting at least one component having a height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension, said equipment rack comprising:
- a back plate capable of being mounted to a surface; and
- two brackets each mounted to said back plate, each of said brackets having a horizontal dimension shorter than said depth dimension, for supporting said at least one component with said height dimension substantially parallel to said horizontal dimension.
23. Two equipment racks mounted to the same surface in back-to-back relationship to each other, each of said racks for mounting at least one component having a height dimension, a width dimension, and a depth dimension, each of said equipment racks comprising (i) a back plate mounted to said surface, and (ii) two brackets each mounted to said back plate, each of said brackets having a horizontal dimension shorter than said depth dimension for supporting said at least one component with said height dimension substantially parallel to said horizontal dimension.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 24, 2008
Publication Date: Oct 30, 2008
Inventors: Tod A. Wagner (Granite Bay, CA), Richard F. Murphy (East Hampstead, NH)
Application Number: 12/109,212
International Classification: A47F 7/00 (20060101);