US20090184072A1

US20090184072A1 - Adjustable rack apparatus

Info

Publication number: US20090184072A1
Application number: US12/016,566
Authority: US
Inventors: Kari Fischer; Ivory Knipfer; Kurt Knodel; Michael J. MacPherson
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 2008-01-18
Filing date: 2008-01-18
Publication date: 2009-07-23

Abstract

An adjustable rack to enclose one or more electronic components in one or more enclosures. The adjustable rack includes a cabinet and, for each enclosure, a set of horizontal bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual height of the enclosure, including slots defined along respective horizontal lengths thereof, to be coupled to opposing walls at variable heights along the walls, a set of vertical bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual depth of the enclosure, including a set of horizontally slotted holes defined along respective vertical heights thereof, to be coupled to the horizontal bars at variable horizontal positions along the slots of the horizontal bars, a set of first brackets, and a set of second brackets.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIELD OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention relate to an adjustable rack apparatus and, more particularly, to an adjustable rack apparatus that accommodates electronic components to be enclosed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND

Generally, electronics equipment manufacturers attempt to design their equipment to fit within industry racks that conform to EIA-310-D specifications (hereinafter referred to as “EIA”). These specifications allow for variations in rack opening widths, hole-to-hole widths, hole diameters and hole shapes (rounds, squares, numerous tapped sizes, etc). Although equipment manufactures study tolerances and may attempt to make their equipment compatible with an assortment of industry racks, the manufacturers are almost never able to test every possible variation and tolerance extreme. The result is that an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) may sell customers electronic equipment that claims to fit EIA racks only to have the equipment arrive at the customer's place of business and not be mountable.
Responsively, manufacturers have begun to produce flexible racks. The most flexible racks are those that have adjustable EIA rails in horizontal and vertical directions for the entire rack. This level of flexibility may not be sufficient, however, should a particular customer want to merge incompatible electronic equipment in the same rack. Here, the rack could be adjustable for some, but not all, of the pieces of the electronic equipment.
Solutions to the problems of insufficiently flexible racks are available but remain problematic. For example, electronic equipment development engineers may perform tolerance reviews and testing to ensure that their company's equipment can fit width and depth variations even in flexible racks. They may also try to ensure that they have included all the necessary hardware to accommodate unknown variables. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, variations and potential problems with their company's equipment may be easily and often overlooked.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, an adjustable rack to enclose one or more electronic components in one or more enclosures is provided and includes a cabinet, including a floor, a ceiling and at least two walls coupled to the floor to support the ceiling, with the floor, the walls and the ceiling cooperatively defining each of the one or more enclosures as respectively having an initial height, an initial depth and an initial width and, for each enclosure, a set of horizontal bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual height of the enclosure, including slots defined along respective horizontal lengths thereof, to be coupled to opposing walls at variable heights along the walls, a set of vertical bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual depth of the enclosure, including a set of horizontally slotted holes defined along respective vertical heights thereof, to be coupled to the horizontal bars at variable horizontal positions along the slots of the horizontal bars, a set of first brackets, including a front side to be coupled to a selection of the horizontally slotted holes of the vertical bars at variable vertical heights along the vertical bars and at variable horizontal positions within the horizontally slotted holes, an elbow at an edge of the front side disposed toward an interior of the corresponding enclosure, and an interior second side, integrally connected to the front side at the elbow, to be disposed at a right angle with respect to the front side and including a set of slotted holes defined therein along a width-wise orientation of the corresponding enclosure, and a set of second brackets to directly mount the corresponding electronic component and to define with micro-adjustability an actual width of the enclosure and to be respectively coupled to each of the first brackets at variable widths along the slotted holes of the first brackets, or to the vertical bars at variable vertical heights, wherein, where the second brackets are respectively coupled to the vertical bars, the vertical bars further comprise a width-wise oriented section including slotted holes defined therein along a width-wise orientation of the corresponding enclosure.
Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with advantages and features, refer to the description and to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet of a rack enclosure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a vertical bar according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of first and second brackets according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of vertical bars according to an alternate exemplary embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1-3, an exemplary embodiment of an adjustable rack 10 in accordance with the present invention is shown. The adjustable rack 10 may be used to enclose one or more electronic components, which are each within, wider or narrower than specifications defined by EIA-310-D standards, in one or more respective enclosures. To that end, the adjustable rack 10 includes a cabinet 20. The cabinet 20 includes a floor 30, a ceiling 40, which is disposed above the floor 30, and at least two walls 50 coupled to the floor 30 to support the ceiling 40.
The floor 30, the walls 50 and the ceiling 40 cooperatively define each of the one or more enclosures as respectively having an initial height h1, an initial depth d1 and an initial width w1. The adjustability of the adjustable rack 10, in accordance with the present invention, makes it possible to re-define each of the enclosure separately as effectively having an actual height h2, an actual depth d2 and an actual width w2 (see FIG. 3). As such, various electronic components may be secured within the adjustable rack 10 regardless of whether each of the electronic components are similarly shaped and sized or differently shaped and sized.
The floor 30 may comprise an actual floor board spreads across a lower portion of the cabinet 20 or just lower edges of the walls 50. Additionally, the floor 30 may be fitted with wheels and wheel-wells such that the adjustable rack 10 is made to be mobile. Unlike the floor 30, the ceiling 40 is more likely to be a solid feature to provide for wall 50 stability, although it is understood that the ceiling 40 may refer to just the upper edges of the walls 50. The walls 50 may include at least two sidewalls with an aperture completely provided between them so as to provide for access to the front and rear of the electronic components stored therein or may further include a rear wall that adds to the structural rigidity of the adjustable rack 10 while allowing for limited access to the rear of the electronic components. As a further alternative, the walls 50 may include panels 51 that partially intrude into the aperture to provide docking options for the electronic components or the horizontal bars 60 (see below).
For each of the enclosures, the adjustable rack 10 further includes horizontal bars 60 to be coupled to the walls 50 at variable heights along the walls 50, vertical bars 70 to be coupled to the horizontal bars 60 at variable positions along the horizontal bars 60, first brackets 80 to be coupled to the vertical bars 70 at variable heights along the vertical bars 70, and second brackets 90. The second brackets 90 are to be respectively coupled to each of the first brackets 80 at variable positions relative to the first brackets 80. Each of the horizontal bars 60, the vertical bars 70 and the first brackets 80 allow for minute positional adjustments of each of these features.
In greater detail, each of the horizontal bars 60 may be coupled to the walls 50 via, e.g., screw coupling or other similar methods, and include at least one or two slots 61 defined along lengths thereof. The slots 61 may be through-holes extending through the horizontal bars 60, as shown in FIG. 1, or depressions extending along a surface of each the horizontal bars 60. Further, the horizontal bars 60 may be disposed alone or in groups of multiple horizontal bars 60 so as to define the height h2 of the region in which each enclosure is defined. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, two horizontal bars 60 are provided across the aperture between the panels 51 of the walls 50 to define a height of the enclosure as h2. The lower horizontal bar 60 defines a lower height of the corresponding enclosure while the upper horizontal bar 60 defines an upper height thereof. An additional set of horizontal bars 60 may be similarly provided in an opposing side of the cabinet 20 to provide for greater enclosure structural stability.
Each of the vertical bars 70 may be coupled with micro-adjustability to the horizontal bars 60 along the slots 61 to define an actual depth d2 of the region in which the enclosure is defined. In that sense, the vertical bars 70 may be provided and/or arranged with respect to the cabinet 20 in a similar fashion as the horizontal bars 60. That is, as in the example shown in FIG. 1, two vertical bars 70 may be provided between the horizontal bars 60. Again, an additional set of vertical bars 70 may be provided in an opposing side of the cabinet 20 to provide for greater enclosure structural stability.
With particular reference now to FIG. 2, it is noted that each of the vertical bars 70 is provided with a set of vertically slotted holes 71 and horizontally slotted holes 72. The vertically slotted holes 71 are disposed in a vertical orientation and allow the vertical bars 70 to be coupled to the slots 61 of the horizontal bars 60 with micro-adjustability. Conversely, the horizontally slotted holes 72 are disposed in a horizontal orientation to provide for micro-adjustability of the width w2 of the enclosure.
With reference now to FIG. 3, each of the first brackets 80 will generally be provided as an individual bracket in set of two or more first brackets 80. That is, each individual bracket is generally to be coupled to a vertical bar 70 to face a counterpart individual bracket. Moreover, pairs of first brackets 80 may be provided in opposing sides of the cabinet 20 in corresponding locations.
Each first bracket 80 includes a front side 81 to be coupled to a selection of the horizontally slotted holes 72 of the vertical bars 70 at variable vertical heights along the vertical bars 70 and at micro-adjusted variable horizontal positions within the horizontally slotted holes 72. An elbow 82 at an edge of the front side 81 is disposed toward an interior of the corresponding enclosure. An interior second side 83, integrally connected to the front side 81 at the elbow 82, is disposed at a right angle with respect to the front side 81 and includes a set of slotted holes 84 defined therein. The slotted holes 84 have a width-wise orientation with respect to the corresponding enclosure and provide micro-adjustability for its width w2.
Each of the second brackets 90 are to be respectively coupled to each of the first brackets 80 at variable widths along the slotted holes 84. The second brackets 90 cooperate to directly mount the corresponding electronic component that is to be secured within the enclosure. To this end, the second brackets 90 are provided with various types of mating structures 91 that allow the second brackets 90 to be coupled to various types of electronic components with various mounting patterns, such as tapped mounts, round mounts, and square mounts. Alternately, the second brackets 90 may be plural in number with each second bracket 90 having a particular mating structure provided therein to be intended for use with a particular type of electronic component.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention for each of the enclosures, which is shown in FIG. 4, the adjustable rack 10 may include vertical bars 70′ which are similar to vertical bars 70 except for additional width-wise portions 75 that are each fashioned at a substantially right angle with respect to front portions of each of the vertical bars 70′. As such, the second brackets 90 may be coupled directly to the vertical bars 70′ without the presence of the first brackets 80. In this manner, the second brackets 90 are coupled to the vertical bars 70′ in a similar fashion as described above with respect to the coupling of the second brackets 90 to the first brackets 80.
According to various embodiments of the invention, the electronic component to be mounted in each enclosure may be mounted directly to the walls 50, the horizontal bars 60, the vertical bars 70 or the second brackets 90 depending on a size and shape, as well as the mounting requirements, of the electronic component.
According to still other embodiments of the invention, it is further understood that each enclosure may include support and room for one or more electronic components.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the adjustable rack 10 described above may be applied in a situation in which the adjustable rack 10 is warped during its lifecycle as a result of use and/or the stresses endured in the storage of electronic components therein. That is, it is understood that the adjustable rack 10 may develop an hourglass shape after a period of time. However, in view of the height, depth and width micro-adjustability of the adjustable rack 10, such warping may be absorbed without overall rack failure.
While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular exemplary embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An adjustable rack to enclose one or more electronic components, which are each within, wider or narrower than specifications defined by EIA-310-D standards, in one or more enclosures, the adjustable rack comprising:

a cabinet, including a floor, a ceiling and at least two walls coupled to the floor to support the ceiling, with the floor, the walls and the ceiling cooperatively defining each of the one or more enclosures as respectively having an initial height, an initial depth and an initial width; and, for each enclosure,

a set of horizontal bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual height of the enclosure, including slots defined along respective horizontal lengths thereof, to be coupled to corresponding panels of opposing ones of the at least two walls at heights along the walls,

a set of vertical bars to define with micro-adjustability an actual depth of the enclosure, including a set of horizontally slotted holes defined along respective vertical heights thereof, to be coupled to coupling surfaces of each of the horizontal bars at horizontal positions along the slots of the horizontal bars,

a set of first brackets, each first bracket including:

a front side to be coupled to preselected ones of the horizontally slotted holes of the vertical bars at vertical heights along the vertical bars and at horizontal positions of the horizontally slotted holes included within each of the vertical bars,

an elbow at an edge of the front side of the bracket disposed toward an interior of the corresponding enclosure, and

an interior second side, integrally connected to the front side of the bracket at the elbow, to be disposed at a right angle with respect to the front side and including a set of slotted holes defined therein along a width-wise orientation of the corresponding enclosure, and

a set of second brackets to directly mount the corresponding electronic component and to define with micro-adjustability width of the enclosure, each of the second brackets being respectively coupled to one of:

each of the first brackets at widths along the slotted holes of the interior second side of the first brackets, and

to the vertical bars at vertical heights, wherein, where the second brackets are respectively coupled to the vertical bars, the vertical bars further comprise a width-wise oriented section including slotted holes defined therein along a width-wise orientation of the corresponding enclosure.

2. The adjustable rack according to claim 1, wherein sizes of each of the one or more enclosures vary from one another.

3. The adjustable rack according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more electronic components are directly coupled to the walls, the horizontal bars, the vertical bars or the second brackets.

4. The adjustable rack according to claim 1, wherein each of the second brackets is configured to mount various electronic components, which are each equipped with various mounting patterns.

5. The adjustable rack according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more enclosures encloses one or more electronic components.