Patent Grant
7697277
Hard disk drive brackets come in many shapes and forms. Most of today's brackets are designed to accommodate standard 3.5″ drives. Examples of hard disk drives brackets abound. Some examples of the hard disk drive brackets utilized in past products developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. are shown in
a) and 1(b) show a 3.5″ Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 911 bracket referred to as “SPUD” in closed and open positions, respectively. In the “SPUD,” a spring 913 is utilized to bias the door 915 outward, and has a side actuated latch release 917.
a) and 2(b) show a 3.5″ HDD bracket 921 referred to as “SPUD 3” in closed and open positions, respectively. In the “SPUD 3,” a side-sliding latch release 927 and lever-arm spring 923 are included in order to swing the door 925 outward.
a) and 3(b) show a 3.5″ HDD bracket 931 used in, for example, a “Sun Fire V20z” server. In this bracket 931, the release latch 937 is still a side action, but has been integrated into the lever arm 935.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a hard disk drive bracket comprises a bezel, a lever arm attached to the bezel rotatably between a closed position against the bezel and an open position apart from the bezel, a release mechanism attached to the bezel comprising a locking member that latches the lever arm in the closed position and a release button arranged to unlatch the lever arm from the locking member when the release button is depressed, and a horn attached to the bezel translatably between a natural position apart from the release mechanism and a forced position that allows the horn and release mechanism to interact to free the locking member from the path of the lever arm.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
a) and 1(b) show a “SPUD” 3.5″ HDD bracket.
a) and 2(b) show a “SPUD 3” 3.5″ HDD bracket.
a) and 3(b) show a 3.5″ HDD bracket used in, for example, a “Sun Fire V20z” server.
a) and 4(b) show front views of a HDD bracket in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
a), 5(b), and 5(c) show top views from inside of a HDD bracket in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
New generations of server platforms incorporate small form factor (SFF) 2.5″ hard disk drives. Therefore, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, a new 2.5″ hard disk drive (HDD) bracket was developed to serve as a common drive bracket for future product platforms incorporating swappable, 2.5″ hard disk drives. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In order to support a multitude of HDD mounting applications across different products, the mechanical packaging requirements of the bracket are very constrained. In particular, because of the requirements for width and depth dimensions (e.g., for standard 78 mm×115 mm dimensions), little room is left for the bezel, mounting rails, and latch/release mechanism. In an application with such dimensions, only 8 mm of packaging depth is allowed at the front of the bracket for the front bezel, lever/locking arm, push button release, and latch. Accordingly, one or more embodiments of the present invention provide a bracket with a unique, low profile, low cost, and robust mechanism with parts that are resilient to manufacturing variations.
Referring to
a) shows a HDD bracket from the top view inside the bezel 101 with the lever arm 200 in the unlatched position. In the unlatched position the lever arm 200 is rotated apart from the bezel 101, the release mechanism 300, and the horn 400. The spring 201 biases the lever arm 200 to the unlatched position. The release button 302 is biased outward by the locking member 301 when the lever arm 200 is in the unlatched position. The horn 400 is in the horn's natural position and does not interact with any other elements when the lever arm 200 is in the unlatched position.
b) shows a HDD bracket from the top view inside the bezel 101 as the lever arm 200 is rotating between the open and closed positions. Specifically,
b) shows the interaction between the horn 400 and the release mechanism 300 in addition to the contact between the horn 400 and the lever arm 200. As the horn 400 is forced from the horn's natural position to the horn's forced position as the lever arm 200 is closing, the horn 400 interacts with the release mechanism 300 to automatically depress the release button 302.
c) shows a HDD bracket from the top view inside the bezel 101 when the lever arm 200 is in the latched position. When the lever arm 200 is in the latched position, the shapes of the cavity 401 (as shown in
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the release mechanism may be a unitarily formed body comprising the release button, horn, and pivot.
One or more embodiments of the present invention may include one or more of the following advantages: more secure retention of the lever arm 200; the mechanism is entirely internal, low profile, and does not impede airflow; the mechanism has a low part count and therefore low cost; the user-interface is intuitive and equivalent to what users are used to; the mechanism allows for smooth and consistent operation of the bracket; and the design of the mechanism is robust to manufacturing variation and inconsistencies despite the small size of HDD brackets.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of this invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5982587 | Alagheband et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
| 7535704 | Olesiewicz et al. | May 2009 | B2 |
| 20080043434 | Tatsukami et al. | Feb 2008 | A1 |
