EP1017263A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Computer cabinet design
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1999-12-16
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2019-12-16
Abstract
Abstract Cabinets or enclosures are provided having heat generating elements stored therein cooled by locating the cabinets on tiles of an elevated floor having cool air provided under the tiles, the cabinets having variable size openings in their bottom surface located over openings in the tiles, openings in the top surface of the cabinets, which openings may have fans located in the openings, highly perforated shelves and a highly perforated front door. By controlling the size of the various openings, and the number, if any, of fans and air flow through the door the temperature in the cabinet may be controlled. A number of cabinets may be located side-by-side with side walls in contact and with wires introduced into one cabinet from under the tiles through an opening in its bottom wall being passed from cabinet-to-cabinet through aligned openings in the side walls of the cabinets. The air flow within the cabinets may be reversed in air conditioned rooms not having cooling air under the floor on which the cabinet is situated.
Inventors
- 👤 Edward C. Koplin
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 06:44
CPC Classifications
H; H05; H05K; H05K7/00; H05K7/20; H05K7/20709; H05K7/20718; G; G06; G06F; G06F1/00; G06F1/16; G06F1/18; G06F1/20; G06F1/206
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 43
Claim 1
Independent Claim
172 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
containing heat producing elements, comprising an enclosure having an interior with at
least a top wall, a bottom wall and least one shelf
located in a fixed position, said wall being highly perforated to permit
cooling gas to flow therethrough, said bottom wall having at least one
variable size opening therein, said one shelf positioned to prevent
equipment from being located sufficiently close to said
bottom wall to hinder flow of cooling gas through said
variable size opening and to permit ready access to said
variable size opening to adjust its size of opening, said top wall having at least one opening
therein, a plurality of panels selectively
insertable into said at least one opening in the top
wall, at least one of said panels controlling
flow of air through said opening, means for selectively providing access to
cool air located under said bottom wall of said
enclosure, said enclosure having a highly perforated
door, and means for controlling the flow of air
through said door.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
28 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
containing heat producing elements, wherein said enclosure is a cabinet having side walls
to effectively isolate said cabinet from others of
cabinets.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 2 further comprising at least six fans in said top wall, and means for limiting power consumption by
said fans to less than 10% of the power consumed by
equipment located in said cabinet.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
61 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 3 wherein said cabinet is designed to accommodate
equipment utilizing up to 7500 watts of energy, said fans establishing a flow pattern in
said cabinet to cause gas entering through said door to
move uniformly up through said top wall under the
influence of said fans to produce thereby effective
convection cooling.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
30 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 4 wherein gas is introduced through said bottom wall
as needed to add to the cooling effect produced by
convection cooling.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
63 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2 wherein at least two additional panels are
selectively insertable into said at least one opening in
said top wall, one of said panels being highly
perforated, another of said panels blocking flow of gas
therethrough, and a third of said panels having an
induction fan secured thereto for drawing air through
said opening.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 2 wherein a number of openings are provided in the
top wall and a small fan is inserted into various of said
openings.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2 wherein, solid panels are selectively insertable
into said door to control the flow of gas therethrough.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 4 wherein said fans are variable speed fans.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2 further comprising, means for securing said cabinet over tiles
of a raised floor having pressurized cool air located
thereunder.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
28 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2 further comprising, means for securing the cabinet to beams
supporting a raised tile floor having cool air
thereunder.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
32 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 10, wherein, said tiles have members providing an
opening under said cabinet in at least partial
communication with the interior of said cabinet.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
42 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 11, wherein said variable size opening comprises a
plurality of variable size openings in said bottom wall
to provide communication between the interior of said
cabinet and the cool air under said floor.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
27 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2 further comprising a plurality of variable size openings
located at the same time in said bottom wall.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
20 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 13, further comprising a plurality of openings in said top wall.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
46 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 2, further providing means for mixing ambient air entering
through said door with a predetermined quantity of cool
air from under said bottom shelf to establish a
predetermined temperature in said cabinet for a
predetermined heat load.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
77 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 16 wherein said means for controlling includes mixing
to maintain a desired temperature comprises the number of
blocking panels in the top wall of the cabinet, if any,
the number of fans in the openings in the top wall of the
cabinet, the speed of the fans, the number and size of
openings in the floor and the number of blocking panels
in the door to the cabinet.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
80 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 12 wherein a pair of plates located in teh bottom
wall are each approximately half the size of the opening, said plates insertable in and retained in
said opening to control the area of unimpeded air flow
through said opening, said plates rotatable with respect to one
another in the plane of said bottom shelf from positions
in a range of approximately half closing said opening to
fully closing said opening.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
138 words
An arrangement for controlling the
temperature in each of an array of cabinets comprising, a plurality of cabinets, each having side
walls isolating each cabinet from each other cabinet, top
walls, a bottom wall, a back wall and a perforated front
door, an elevated floor of tiles having cooling
air thereunder under pressure, said cabinets arrayed on said tiles in
groups of a predetermined number having their side walls
substantially in contact one for one, means for introducing communication and
power wires into at least one of said cabinets, means for passing wires and cables from
one cabinet to one or more adjacent cabinets through said
walls, means for maintaining, at worst, a low
level of leakage of air around said wires and cables, means for introducing cooling air into
said cabinets as needed through said bottom walls.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
63 words
An arrangement for controlling the
temperature according to Claim 19 wherein said cabinets having a predetermined
width, said floor having side-by-side openings
therethrough, to permit access to cool air under said
tiles, a group of cabinets positioned on said
tiles, the combined widths of which equal the width of
tiles providing a number of said openings equal to the
number of said cabinets.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
An arrangement for controlling the
temperature according to Claim 19, wherein said cables and wires enter the cabinet
from under the tile floor, and means are provided for essentially
preventing leakage of gas flow around said cables and
wires.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
An arrangement for controlling the
temperature in each of an array of cabinets according to
Claim 19, wherein each of said cabinets has at least one
variable opening in its bottom wall.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
110 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 19 wherein the opening in said bottom wall is of a
specified size, and groups of grommets of variable size
openings in a range to almost fully open the opening in
one position and substantially fully close the opening in
another position and to provide openings in between
throughout the range are provided, said grommets insertable in said opening
to control the area of unimpeded air flow through said
opening, said plates rotatable with respect to one
another in the plane of said bottom wall from positions
in a range of approximately half closing said opening to
fully closing said opening.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
42 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 19 further comprising, a bottom shelf secured in said cabinet a
distance above said bottom wall to permit access to said
grommet from above said bottom wall for purposes of
adjusting the opening.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
43 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 19 further comprising horizontal bars disposed in said cabinet
under the top wall at a distance to prevent articles from
being placed close enough to the top wall to impede flow
of gas therethrough.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
37 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 25 further comprising a first duct positioned above said
enclosures, and further ducting extending from said first
duct to said enclosure to control air flow in said
enclosure.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
26 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 26 wherein said first duct carries cooling air, and said fan pulls air down through said
enclosure.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
26 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 26 wherein said first duct carries exhaust air; and said fans flow air upward through said
enclosures.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
61 words
An arrangement for controlling the
temperature according to Claim 20 wherein the relationship between cabinets and
tiles is AX = BY where X is the width of a tile, A is the
number of tiles, Y is the width of the cabinets, and B is
the number of cabinets, said cabinets are arrayed side-by-side in
a group positioned on said tiles.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
31 words
A structure for cooling an enclosure
according to Claim 2 further comprising legs for supporting said cabinet above
said tile floor, and means for drawing ambient cool air into
said cabinet.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
174 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
containing heat producing elements, comprising an enclosure having an interior with at
least a top wall, a bottom wall and least one shelf
located in a fixed position, said wall being highly perforated to permit
cooling gas to flow therethrough, said bottom wall having at least one
variable size opening therein, said one shelf positioned to prevent
equipment from being located sufficiently close to said
bottom wall to hinder flow of cooling gas through said
variable size opening and to permit ready access to said
variable size opening to adjust its size of opening, said top wall having at least one opening
therein, a plurality of panels selectively
insertable into said at least one opening in the top
wall, at least one of said panels controlling
flow of air through said opening, legs supporting said cabinet above the
tile floor, and means for inducting cool ambient air into
said cabinets, said enclosure having a highly perforated
door, and means for controlling the flow of air
through said door.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
23 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 31 wherein said means for inducting includes means
for inducting air through said door.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
24 words
A structure for cooling a cabinet
according to Claim 31 wherein said means for inducting includes means
for inducting air through said bottom wall.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
97 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet having a top wall with openings, a highly
perforated door, highly perforated shelves, side walls
and a bottom wall with openings comprising the steps of locating the cabinet over an opening in
tiles of a raised floor having a source of cool air under
the tiles, controlling the size of the opening in the
bottom wall to control the flow of cool air into the
cabinet, selectively controlling the flow of
ambient air into the cabinet through the door, and
controlling the air flowing through the top wall.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further comprising, inserting panels into the top wall to
selectively increase the flow of air through the top
wall, decrease the flow of air through the top wall, or
to allow normal convection currents produced by the heat
of materials in the cabinet to provide flow of air
through the top wall.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 21 further comprising, increasing flow of air through the cabinet
by inserting in an opening in the top wall a panel having
an induction fan mounted thereon.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further providing the steps
of employing pieces of tiles on which the
cabinet is positioned to provide an opening into the
cabinet through the tiles to the cool air.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 37 further providing the steps
of retaining the pieces of the tile in their
proper positions.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further comprising, securing the cabinet to the tile floor to
maintain its position on the floor.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further comprising, securing the cabinet to a beam supporting
the tiles, and, securing the member for retaining the
tiles in position under the bottom wall of the cabinet.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet having a top wall with openings, a highly
perforated door, highly perforated shelves, side walls
and a bottom wall with openings according to Claim 34
wherein, controlling the flow of ambient and cool
air through the cabinet to maintain the temperature
within acceptable limits.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further comprising, passing power and communication cables
from under the tiles into at least one of the cabinets
through the opening in the bottom wall of at least one of
the cabinets while reducing flow of air between cabinets.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of cooling the interior of a
cabinet according to Claim 34 further comprising, adding additional cabinets side by side on
the tile floor such that the cabinets may essentially
touch one another along their sides, and passing wires through the side walls to
provide energy and communication facilities to each
cabinet.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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