Patent Application
20050207130
The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 93204003, filed Mar. 16, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to a chassis frame. More particularly, this invention relates to a computer chassis frame.
Information technology and the computer industry are highly developed now. People rely heavily on computer systems. Therefore, computer servers with high calculation capacity and high stability are important for computer systems. Due to increasingly reduced office space, area occupied by computer servers must also be reduced. Computer servers must maintain a high degree of stability to serve users, and the space occupied by one computer server is therefore greater than or equal to that of a desktop computer. Accordingly, the management of computer servers is difficult and space utilization is tightened. Some companies have 2 or 3 computer servers, while others may have more than a thousand computer servers. Computer server management and space utilization become more critical in companies with more computer servers.
A 1U computer server assembled on a standard 1U server rack is the mainstream computer server arrangement. Each standard layer of the rack is about 1.75 inches (about 4.5 centimeters), so that the 1U server and the rack effectively conserve occupational space of the computer servers. Moreover, the 1U servers and racks are more efficiently controlled because the 1U servers and racks can be centrally managed and easily stacked. Normally, hardware used in the 1U server is provided with a smaller size and lower height to fit the thickness limitation of 1.75 inches.
A server system is convenient for users seeking or storing data because the server rack usually provides numerous hard disks and/or other storage mediums to store data therein. Motherboards of the server system, the hard disks and/or the other storage mediums are normally configured in a chassis effectively to provide services for the users. A conventional chassis includes a support panel made of sheet metals for fixing the motherboard, the hard disks and/or the other storage mediums thereon.
However, the sheet metals support panel of the chassis cannot provide enough structural strength to support the increasingly varied internal peripheral devices. Therefore, various enhancing sideboards or structures are designed to improve the structural strength of the sheet metal support panel. Accordingly, a heavier chassis including the enhanced sheet metal support panel makes the total weight of the chassis heavy. Especially in the 1U server, the chassis with the enhanced sheet metal support panel not only occupies quite a large volume in the server racks but also makes the chassis itself heavier.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a chassis frame, serving as a support panel, constructed from rigid rods for supporting the motherboards and computer peripheral devices thereon so as to reduce the weight of the chassis.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a chassis frame, serving as a support panel, constructed from rigid rods to reduce chassis sag and increase structural strength of the chassis.
To accomplish the above objectives, the present invention provides a chassis frame having a front panel, a backboard, and a plurality of first rigid rods. The front panel and the backboard provide an electromagnetic shield for electrical devices fixed in the chassis frame. The first rigid rods are coupled between the front panel and the backboard to provide structural strength for the chassis frame.
The chassis frame further utilizes a second rigid rod transversely coupling between two of the first rigid rods to enhance the structural strength of the chassis frame. The chassis further includes a third rigid rod configured between the second rigid rods and the front panel to enhance further the structural strength of the chassis frame. The chassis frame also includes a fourth rigid rod between the second rigid rods and the backboard to enhance further the structural strength of the chassis frame.
The first, second, third and fourth rigid rods are preferably made of a bar or tube material with high structural strength, such as, for example, a bar material or a tube with a round, square, triangular, elliptical or polyhedral cross-section.
The first rigid rod further includes quick connectors disposed at two ends thereof for quickly coupling to the front panel and the backboard. The quick connector is, for example, an U-shaped quick connector. Two perpendicular rigid rods, for example, the first rigid rod and the second rigid rod, can be coupled together by a T-shaped quick connector. Otherwise, two perpendicular rigid rods can be also coupled together by a fixing device such as, for example, a pair of screws or weld.
The chassis frame is preferably a computer chassis frame, more preferably is a computer server chassis frame, and most preferably is a 1U computer server chassis frame. The electrical device, such as, for example, a computer motherboard or an internal computer peripheral device, is fixed on the first, second, third or fourth rigid rods.
Hence, the chassis frame can effectively reduce the weight of the chassis, increase the utilizable space in the chassis frame and improve the structural strength of the chassis frame so as to increase the reliability and safety of the chassis frame and the electrical device fixed therein. The chassis frame can apply to any other electrical apparatus to enhance the shell structural strength thereof and reduce the total weight thereof.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description is of the best presently contemplated mode of carrying out the present invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined by referencing the appended claims.
The rigid rods are preferably made of a metal bar material or steel beams, such as, for example, round, square, triangular, elliptical or polyhedral metal bars, or round, square, triangle, elliptical or polyhedral metal tubes. The rigid rods can also made of any high structural strength nonmetal bar materials or tubes. The front panel and the backboard can further provide an electromagnetic shield for the motherboard and the internal peripheral devices to be fixed on the chassis frame to protect electrical devices disposed in the chassis frame.
The chassis frame 200 further utilizes a coupling device to couple the rigid rods to the other rigid rods, the front panel 210, or the backboard 220. The coupling device can be an U-shaped quick connector 270, a T-shaped quick connector 280, or any other shape quick connections such as, for example, E-shaped or L-shaped quick connectors. Any shape quick connectors can be utilized in the chassis frame 200 while the quick connections can provide quick connections between the rigid rods, the front panel and the backboard. The coupling device can further utilize a fixing device 290 to couple two rigid rods so as to enhance the integral structural strength of the chassis frame. The fixing device 290 can be a pair of screws or weld to couple effectively the rigid rods and provide an suitable connection structural strength. Additionally, both sides of the front panel 210 further have fixing screws 300 to fix the computer chassis on a server rack.
The chassis frame according to the present application utilizes bar or tube material with high structural strength to decrease a need for sheet metal to form a computer chassis, thereby decreasing the total weight of the computer chassis and providing an extended space in the computer chassis. Furthermore, with rigid rods having high structural strength, the integral structural strength of the computer chassis is also improved. The chassis sag can therefore be reduced by about ⅓ in a finite element analysis and an actual environment test. Accordingly, the chassis frame according to the present invention can provide a preferable chassis structural strength and rigidity to protect effectively the electrical device fixed therein. The chassis frame further conveniently utilizes the quick connectors to couple the rigid rods and reduce the assembly cost. The chassis frame is not limited to a chassis for a computer server, and any electrical apparatus or computers can utilize the chassis frame with the rigid rods to enhance the structural strength thereof and fix electrical device therein.
As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended that various modifications and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 93204003 | Mar 2004 | TW | national |
