Patent Application
20250133648
The present disclosure relates to computing systems, and more specifically, to installation features for circuit boards.
Many computing systems, such as servers, include mother boards with connectors that other circuit boards can be plugged in to. These circuit boards can add additional capacity and/or capability to a server, increasing its performance. However, there is often a limited amount of space in a server housing, and the circuit boards themselves can be rather small. This can make it difficult for a user to install the circuit boards by hand. Furthermore, in case a circuit board needs to be removed, doing so can be troublesome using only their fingers.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a circuit board includes a substrate including a slot, electronic components connected to the substrate, a board connector connected to the substrate and communicatively connected to the electronic components, and an installation tool including a lug and a pedestal. The pedestal is positioned through the slot and the lug is positioned in the slot to slidably connect the installation tool to the substrate, and the installation tool extends beyond an end of the substrate.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a computing system includes a server comprising a card connector and a circuit board connected to the card connector. The circuit board includes an installation tool slidably connected to the circuit board in a sliding direction that is parallel to a connecting direction that the card connector connects to and disconnects from the board connector. The installation tool is movable between an insertion position and an extraction position, and the installation tool is configured to solely contact the circuit board when the installation tool is moved between the insertion position and the extraction position.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a circuit board includes a substrate including a slot and a detent feature, electronic components connected to the substrate, a board connector connected to the substrate and communicatively connected to the electronic components, and an installation tool including a pedestal and a detent. The pedestal is positioned through the slot to slidably connect the installation tool to the substrate, the installation tool is movable between an insertion position and an extraction position, the detent engages the detent feature when the installation tool is in the insertion position, and the installation tool extends beyond an end of the substrate.
In the illustrated embodiment, server 100 is a computing system that comprises motherboard 102 that is connected to housing 104. Housing 104 includes backplate 106 at the back end of server 100. Cards 108 can be, for example, circuit boards of an M.2 configuration that are plugged into motherboard 102 and are supported by rails 110, respectively. Cards 108 are positioned within housing 104, and cards 108 do not extend beyond motherboard 102 or backplate 106. Each card 108 also includes installation and removal tool 112 (hereinafter “tool 112”).
In the illustrated embodiment, tool 112 comprises bar 114, lug 116, pedestal 118, detent 120, and tab 122. Bar 114 has a rectangular cross section, and lug 116, pedestal 118, detent 120, and tab 122 extend from the same side of bar 114. Tab 122 is located at the rearward end of bar 114 and is configured for a user to grasp, and lug 116 is located near the forward end of bar 114. Pedestal 118 and detent 120 are located between lug 116 and tab 122, and pedestal 118 is closer to lug 116 than detent 120 is. Pedestal 118 includes shaft 124 and head 126, the latter of which has an elliptical shape, for example.
In the illustrated embodiment, substrate 128 includes slot 138 and hole 140. Tool 112 is slidably connected to card 108 by pedestal 118 extending through substrate 128 via slot 138. Slot 138 is also configured to receive lug 116 (which is also positioned in slot 138), and lug 116 contacts the forward end of slot 138 when tool 112 is pushed in direction 136. Thus, tool 112 is in the insertion position as shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, bar 114 is wider than slot 138, and the curvature of bar 114 is comprised of three straight segments 146 with two bends 148 in between, respectively. Each bend 148 can be between 170 and 179 degrees, or between 172 and 176 degrees, although in other embodiments, there are no straight segments 146 and bar 114 is a continuous bend 148. Because each bend 148 is on the same side of bar 114, tool 112 is generally concave towards the side that lug 116 and pedestal 118 are on. However, bends 148 are rather slight to reduce stress on tool 112 (e.g., on bar 114 and head 126) during installation. Pedestal 118 rises from the middle straight segment 146 so that the end of bar 114 proximate lug 116 and detent 120 (and/or the end of bar 114 proximate detent 120) contact the bottom side of substrate 128 (shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the width of the wider axis of head 126 (e.g., the major axis if head 126 is elliptically shaped) is substantially wider than slot 138 (e.g., between 1.5 and 2.5 times wider, or about twice as wide). When tool 112 is installed on card 108 (shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the thickness of substrate 128 can be between 1.4 mm and 1.8 mm or about 1.6 mm. The thickness of bar 114 can be within 20% of the thickness of substrate 128 as to not add too much thickness to card 108. Hole 140 can be approximately the same diameter as detent 120, although hole 140 can be smaller than detent 120 as to prevent unintended movement in direction 142 (shown in
Method 200 begins at operation 202, at which tool 112 is moved alongside substrate 128, and pedestal 118 is passed through slot 138 (shown in
At operation 210, card 108 is inserted into server 100 and connected to motherboard 102 (shown in
As can be seen and as was discussed in the present disclosure, tool 112 occupies only a small area of card 108, which increases the amount of space available for electronic components 130. In addition, the cost of tool 112 is only incurred for every card 108, which saves cost compared to having an installation and/or removal tool connected to server 100 and/or motherboard 102 for each card slot. This is because such a tool would need to be made and installed regardless of whether the port was used or not.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the related drawings. Alternative embodiments can be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. It is noted that various connections and positional relationships (e.g., over, below, adjacent, etc.) are set forth between elements in the following description and in the drawings. These connections and/or positional relationships, unless specified otherwise, can be direct or indirect, and the present disclosure is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Accordingly, a coupling of entities can refer to either a direct or an indirect coupling, and a positional relationship between entities can be a direct or indirect positional relationship. As an example of an indirect positional relationship, references in the present description to forming layer “A” over layer “B” include situations in which one or more intermediate layers (e.g., layers “C” and “D”) are between layer “A” and layer “B” as long as the relevant characteristics and functionalities of layer “A” and layer “B” are not substantially changed by the intermediate layer(s).
The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for the interpretation of the claims and the specification. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” “contains” or “containing,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a composition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus. In addition, any numerical ranges included herein are inclusive of their boundaries unless explicitly stated otherwise.
For purposes of the description hereinafter, the terms “upper,” “lower,” “right,” “left,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” and derivatives thereof shall relate to the described structures and methods, as oriented in the drawing figures. The terms “overlying,” “atop,” “on top,” “positioned on” or “positioned atop” mean that a first element, such as a first structure, is present on a second element, such as a second structure, wherein intervening elements such as an interface structure can be present between the first element and the second element.
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
