Computing devices may use computing components to enable, augment, or improve functionality. For instance, computing components may include graphical processing components, such as may be installed in computing devices to provide augmented graphical processing capabilities to the computing device. At times, computing components receive power via a motherboard of a computing device. At times, computing components may use power received via an auxiliary power connection directly from a power supply of the computing device.
Various examples will be described below by referring to the following figures.
Reference is made in the following detailed description to accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals may designate like parts throughout that are corresponding and/or analogous. It will be appreciated that the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale, such as for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration.
At times, functionality of computing devices may be enabled, increased, and/or augmented by use of computing components (e.g., physical parts of a subsystem of a computing device). To illustrate, example computing components may include components for storing and/or reading signals and/or states stored to media, such as digital versatile disc (DVD) players, hard disk drives (HDD), flash drives, phase-change media drives, removable media readers, and the like; example computing components may also include components for wired and/or wireless interfaces, such as universal serial bus (USB), THUNDERBOLT, Ethernet, WIFI, BLUETOOTH, and near-field communication (NFC) interfaces, and the like; and components for specialized (e.g., application-specific) processing, such as graphics processing or compute cards, by way of non-limiting example.
There may exist a number of possible methods and mechanisms for providing power (e.g., electrical power) to computing components of a computing device (e.g., directly from a wall outlet, from a battery, etc.). In one implementation, power may be transmitted to computing components from a power supply of a computing device. A power supply refers to a component of a computing device that may convert power of one form (e.g., from a wall outlet) into a second form (such as for components of the computing device). For example, one power supply may convert alternating current (AC) power from a wall outlet into direct current (DC) power for computing components.
In one example case, power from a power supply may be fed directly to certain computing components (e.g., HDDs, SSDs, and/or DVD drives of a computing device), such as via wires and a wiring harness. The power supply may also transmit power to a printed circuit board (PCB), such as a motherboard, of a computing device for allocation to other computing components. For instance, the PCB may comprise circuitry to provide power to additional computing components. By way of example, the PCB may comprise connectors for peripheral interface components, such as graphical processing components (e.g., that may be connected to a display), and other interface components, such as networking components (e.g., WIFI card, Ethernet card, etc.), and the like. Power may be transmitted via the connectors according to industry standards, which is to be understood to include standards yet to be established in the future. For example, peripheral component interconnect (PCI), PCI eXtended (PCI-X), and PCI Express (PCIe) are example component connector ports (referred to alternatively herein as interconnect slots) that may have respective power transmission standards, including limits on power levels that may be transmitted via a particular component interconnect slot. For example, some PCIe ports may be limited to providing 25 W of power to connected devices, which may be dependent on a number of power and ground signals for a given interconnect slot. However, at times, some computing components may use power that exceeds the limits of power available through a particular component interconnect slot.
In one case (such as to overcome power limits of a particular component interconnect slot), supplemental power may be provided to computing components via an empty component interconnect slot of a PCB using a power adapter connectable to the empty component interconnect slot. By way of example, a computing component may be connected to a first component interconnect slot, and a power adapter may be connected to a second component interconnect slot. Power may be transmitted to the computing component via the first component interconnect slot and also, using the power adapter, power may be transmitted to the computing component via the second component interconnect slot. As such, computing components may be able to use a power adapter connected to additional interconnect slots to achieve desired power levels (e.g., such as in cases of computing components having power usage that exceeds power availability through a single component interconnect slot).
There may also be size-related constraints on power adapters. For example, some computing components may have a width extending beyond a particular component interconnect slot and potentially impeding access to neighboring component interconnect slots. For example, as computing components for graphical processing (e.g., graphical processing cards) increase in power, a size of the computing components may also increase, such as due to increases in size and/or number of electrical, thermal, and mechanical elements thereof. As a result, some computing components for graphical processing may extend over (e.g., cover) neighboring PCIe slots. However, in some cases, a power adapter may be sized to allow the power adapter to be connected to component interconnect slots covered by computing components.
Because it may be desirable to use otherwise unoccupied component interconnect slots (to which additional power has been allocated), example interconnector power adapters may be capable of connecting to component interconnect slots associated with (e.g., in communication with) empty processor sockets or ports. Said otherwise, in cases in which a power adapter is used to provide supplemental power to a computing component connected to another component interconnect slot, data may not be transferred via the power adapter. In fact, in some cases, the power adaptor may not include contacts to enable data transfer.
With the foregoing in mind, implementations of claimed subject matter may comprise multiple power adapters used in combination to provide power to a computing component from multiple component interconnect slots, without limitation.
In one implementation, for example, power adapter 100 may comprise an interconnect 105. Interconnect 105 may comprise a portion that is connectable to a port, such as a component interconnect slot (e.g., interconnect slot 115). Interconnect 105 may comprise contacts capable of forming an electrical connection with contacts of interconnect slot 115. In one case, for example, interconnect 105 may comprise contacts for receiving power but not contacts for transmitting data signal packets.
Power may be transmitted from power adapter 100 (e.g., to component 120) via an output 110. For example, output 110 may be connected to an auxiliary power connection of a computing component, such as computing component 120, via a wire or cable.
In a case in which power adapter 100 comprises a number of portions for receiving and transmitting power, an interconnect portion, interconnect 105, may receive power from interconnect port 115. As noted, the interconnect portion may receive power via interconnect port 115 without transferring or receiving data via interconnect port 115. And an output portion, such as output 110, may transmit power (e.g., the power received via interconnect 105), such as to component 120, which may be arranged within (e.g., connected to) a second interconnect slot (e.g., distinct from interconnect slot 115). Of course, implementations using an integrated receiver/transceiver portion is also contemplated by the present disclosure.
Example interconnect ports may include PCIe slots. In one example implementation, for example, a power adapter may be capable of receiving power from a PCIe slot and transmitting the received power to a computing component, such as a graphical processing component in another PCIe slot. For example, the graphical processing component, which may use 150 W to operate, may be connected to (e.g., inserted within) a PCIe slot with a 75 W power limit. Consequently, power adapter 100 may be connected to (e.g., inserted into) a second PCIe slot, and 75 W of additional power may be transferred to the graphical processing component via power adapter 100. Of course, the foregoing sample numbers are provided for illustration and are not to be taken in a limiting sense.
In this example, the graphical processing component (e.g., computing component 120) may overhang a neighboring PCIe slot (e.g., interconnect slot 115). In such a case, power adapter 100 may be sized to connect to the neighboring PCIe slot, which PCIe slot may have otherwise remained empty due to the overhang from component 120, and be able to nevertheless transmit power from the PCIe slot to component 120. For example, power adapter 100 may be sized and arranged underneath an electromechanical space of component 120.
In a case in which PCIe slots are associated with different processor sockets, if one of the processor sockets is empty (e.g., no processor is installed), power may nevertheless be allocated and provided to PCIe slots associated with the empty processor socket. Consequently, the PCIe slots for which no processor is installed in the respective processor sockets, may be otherwise unusable for transmission and reception of data. Nevertheless, in the context of transmitting supplemental power to component 120, the PCIe slots associated with empty processor sockets may still be usable, such as to provide supplemental power to component 120.
Similarly, power adapter 100 may limit signals received (e.g., via interconnect 105) to power and ground signals (e.g., such as via a power connector or contact). Thus, power adapter may be capable of receiving and transmitting power without transmission of data signals. Indeed, in some cases, power adapter 100 may be unable to transmit data signals, such as due to a lack of data connectors, an inability to transmit data to other components, a lack of circuitry to handle data, etc.
In addition to the preceding PCIe examples, other example uses of power adapter 100 may comprise use in conjunction with PCI slots, PCI-X slots, and the like (including interconnect port standards to be developed in the future, and for which power output may be limited, such as by a standard), without limitation.
In one implementation, sockets 235a and 235b may be generalized to represent root ports. For example socket 235a may refer to a first root port associated with a first processor, a chipset, or an additional like root port source (e.g., additional processors, PCIe switch, etc.). And socket 235b may refer to a second root port associated with a second processor, a chipset, or an additional like root port source. And PCB 225 may include additional root ports associated with additional interconnect slots.
Additionally, at times, a component connected to one component interconnect slot, such as interconnect slot 215a, may extend over a second component interconnect slot, such as interconnect slot 215b. In such a case, interconnect slot 215b may not be accessible, such as for connecting computing components. However, a power adapter, such as power adapter 100 in
Returning to the discussion of
As should be apparent, power adapter 300 may be sized to fit within a space below an electromechanical space (shown with broken line 345) of computing component 320. As referred to herein, a power adapter, such as power adapter 300, that is sized to be arranged under an electromechanical space of a computing component refers to a height-limited adapter or a power adapter having a height-limited exposed portion.
In one implementation of sample power adapter 400, therefore, an interconnect (e.g., interconnect 105 in
Turning to
In the example illustrated in
Therefore, as disclosed herein, power to a computing component connected to a first component interconnect slot may be supplemented using a power adapter, which may be able to connect to a second component interconnect slot to provide the supplemental power. The power adapter may be height-limited, such as to be able to fit underneath an electromechanical space of the computing component. The power adapter may be able to provide power from an interconnect slot without data transmission via the same interconnect slot.
In the preceding description, various aspects of claimed subject matter have been described. For purposes of explanation, specifics, such as amounts, systems and/or configurations, as examples, were set forth. In other instances, well-known features were omitted and/or simplified so as not to obscure claimed subject matter. While certain features have been illustrated and/or described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes and/or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications and/or changes as fall within claimed subject matter.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2017/060152 | 11/6/2017 | WO | 00 |