The present invention is directed to a fiber management shelf having a removable door and, more specifically, toward a fiber management shelf having a door pivotable between first and second positions that is removable from the fiber management shelf in an intermediate position between the first and second positions.
Data centers that support one or more businesses, factories or residential areas typically comprise one or more racks or cabinets filled with interconnection sites for optical fibers and fiber optic cables. In a typical installation, fiber optic cables that include multiple optical fibers from an external source (these are often known as “outside plant” or “OSP” fibers) enter the cabinet and are spliced together with individual optical fibers known as “pigtails.” Splicing typically occurs in a splice tray or similar component that includes multiple splice sites. The pigtail fibers are then connected within the cabinet to standard termination sites. The termination sites include termination ports that connect optically with “jumper” optical fibers that exit the rack or cabinet to supply data or other information in optical form to the remainder of the building or site. The termination sites can be provided in a number of forms, including fiber distribution cartridges, fiber distribution modules, multi-position adapter couplers and/or bezels.
Fiber management shelves are often provided a front door for providing selective access to the termination sites and elements near the front of the shelf and/or a rear door providing selective access to the splice panel and elements at the rear of the shelf. These doors may be easily opened and closed as needed. However, for some actions, including installing or removing termination sites or working on the splice panel, it may be useful to completely remove the front or rear door. Sometimes removal is required to add or remove elements from the splice panel; sometimes door removal merely makes it faster or easier to work on the interior of the splice panel. In either case, it may be necessary to remove screws and/or hinge assemblies, which may be spring biased and include multiple parts, from the shelf. It would be desirable to provide a fiber management shelf with a door that can be removed and reattached without tools which door still performs the functions of conventional doors on fiber management panels.
These problems and others are addressed by the present invention, a first aspect of which comprises a fiber management shelf having a housing with an opening, a door pivotably mounted on the housing and shiftable from a first position substantially covering the opening to a second position allowing access to the opening past an intermediate position between the first position and the second position, and a hinge connecting the door to the housing. The hinge includes at least one hinge pin that is located on one of the housing and the door and at least one receiver configured to receive and rotatably support the at least one hinge pin that is located on the other one of the housing and the door. The receiver comprises a channel having a length and first and second sides defining a channel opening having a first channel width and at least one boss on the first or second channel side, and the channel has a second channel width at the boss less than the first channel width. The hinge pin has a length and a first portion having a first hinge pin width in a first direction and a second hinge pin width in a second direction less than the first hinge pin width, and the first hinge pin width is greater than the second channel width and the second hinge pin width is less than the second channel width.
Another aspect of the invention comprises a fiber management shelf that includes a housing having an opening, a door pivotably mounted on the housing and shiftable from a first position substantially covering the opening to a second position allowing access to the opening past an intermediate position between the first position and the second position, and a hinge mechanism for pivotably supporting the door on the housing for motion from the first position to the second position, the hinge mechanism preventing the door from being removed from the housing except when the door is in the intermediate position.
A further aspect of the invention comprises a method of using a fiber management shelf as described above that includes pivoting the door from the first position to the intermediate position and removing the door from the housing by pulling the at least one hinge pin through the channel opening and past said at least one boss.
These and other aspects of the invention will be better understood after a reading of the following detailed description together with the attached drawings, wherein:
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”, “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors of relative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.
Hinge 22 comprises a hinge pin 28 on door 18 and a receiver 30 on housing 12. Hinge pin 28 includes first and second generally cylindrical ends 32 and a central portion 34 with first and second flattened, parallel portions 36 which are spaced apart from each other a distance less than the diameter of the cylindrical ends 32 of hinge pin 28. First and second arcuate portions 37 connect the flattened portions 36 and generally conform to the curvature of the cylindrical ends 32. The distance between the first and second arcuate portions 37 is the same as the diameter of the first and second cylindrical ends 32; the distance between the flattened portions 36 is less than the diameter of the first and second cylindrical ends 32. First and second arms 38 connect to first and second ends 32 of hinge pin 28 to support hinge pin 28 in a spaced relation above inner surface 24 of door 18 and extending at least partially beyond the plane of the proximal edge 26 of door 18. The first and second arms 38 include a first surface 40 that faces toward door inner surface 24 and a second surface 42 that faces away from door inner surface 24, and both first surface 40 and second surface 42 are generally parallel to inner surface 24 of door 18.
Receiver 30 comprises a channel 44 having an opening 46 with spaced apart, generally parallel side walls 48 having upper edge 50. The distance between side walls 48 at upper edge 50 is greater than the diameter of hinge pin 28, while the interior of the channel is configured to substantially conform to the shape of the cylindrical ends 32 of the hinge pin 28 to form a bearing surface 52 for cylindrical ends 32 and arcuate portions 37 when the door 18 moves between open and closed positions. A first boss 54 projects from a first one of the channel side walls 48 and a second boss 54 projects from the opposite channel side wall 48 across from the first boss 54. The first and second bosses 54 constrict the channel opening 46 and constitute a narrowed portion of channel opening 46. The distance between first and second bosses 54 is greater than the distance between the first and second parallel portions 36 of hinge pin 28 but less than the distance between the first and second arcuate portions 37 and the diameter of cylindrical end portions 32 of hinge pin 28. Channel 44 includes a first slot 56 at one end of channel 44 that extends into floor 14 of housing 12 and a second slot 58 across the channel 44 from first slot 56 in the radiused edge 16 of housing 12.
Referring now to
Door 18 is moved from the insertion position toward the closed position illustrated in
The hinge pin 28 and the receiver 30 have been described as being formed on the door 18 and housing 12, respectively. However, in a second embodiment of the invention illustrated in
The present invention has been described herein in terms of presently preferred embodiments. However, additions and modifications to these embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts upon a reading of the foregoing description. It is intended that all such additions and modifications form a part of the present invention to the extent they fall within the scope of the several claims appended hereto.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications No. 61/153,613, filed Feb. 18, 2009, and 61/153,617, filed Feb. 18, 2009, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61153613 | Feb 2009 | US | |
61153617 | Feb 2009 | US |