Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Oracle America, Inc.

Jay Kevin Osborn

Sean Conor Wrycraft

Paul Jeffrey Garnett

Graham Bestwick

Kenneth Clayton Gross

John David Schnabel

Denise R Silverman

James Robert Kitchen

Helenaur Wilson

Gerald Ronald Gough

Andrew John Yair

Stephen David Sparkes

William Hunt Vincent

Andrew Stephen Burnham

Matthew C Cain

Brett Cheong-Wei Ong

Frazer Ely

Provided is an apparatus and method to control fan noise in a computer server room. An exemplary apparatus includes one or more transducers coupled to one or more walls of a plurality of system racks and one or more active noise control units, wherein the one or more active noise control units send control signals to the one or more transducers to emit a transducer acoustic wave. It also includes a microphone installed near a location in the computer server room where cooling fan noise needs to be controlled, wherein the microphone collects fan noise signals emitted from running fans on the plurality of system racks in the computer server room and sends the collected fan noise signals to the one or more active noise control units to allow the frequency and intensity of the transducer acoustic wave to be substantially equal to a frequency and an intensity of the fan noise and at about 180 degrees out of phase with the fan noise to reduce or to eliminate the fan noise.

Active noise control rack enclosures

An apparatus for measuring vibration of a fan includes a frame having an opening for enclosing a fan; a plurality of accelerometers disposed on the frame; and an elastic support for supporting the frame. An apparatus for measuring fan vibration includes a frame having an opening for enclosing a fan; a plurality of accelerometers disposed on the frame. The plurality of accelerometers output a signal to the signal-analyzing device and at least three of the plurality of accelerometers are disposed on a different surface of the frame from each other. The apparatus for measuring fan vibration includes a mounting block that allows the fan to be secured in the opening of the frame and an elastic support for supporting the frame. A method of measuring fan vibration includes disposing a plurality of accelerometers on a frame; mounting a fan within the frame; turning on the fan; and outputting a signal from each of the plurality of accelerometers to a signal-analyzing device.

Device and method for measuring fan vibration

Various embodiments of a heat sink assembly are disclosed. In one embodiment, the heat sink assembly includes a processor mounted onto a circuit board; a heat sink located in thermal contact with the processor at the side of the processor opposite circuit board; and an electromagnetic shielding member located between the circuit board and the heat sink. The electromagnetic shielding member is releasably attached to the circuit board. Additionally, or in the alternative, the heat sink is biased toward the processor by a load spring and the electromagnetic shielding member is configured to provide a spring force between the circuit board and the heat sink, counter directional to the bias from the load spring.

Support and grounding structure

In some embodiments, an electronics assembly may include a frame with a motherboard and a plurality of daughterboards. The frame may have an opening opposite the motherboard to allow insertion of the daughterboards into the frame or removal of the daughterboards from the frame. An injector/ejector mechanism for each daughterboard may be located on the daughterboard or the frame. The frame may further include a flange that extends along the frame at or adjacent to the opening and on which the injector/ejector mechanism of each daughterboard is attached or engages at different locations along the length thereof. The flange may be divided into separate sections that correspond to the different locations to allow the flange to flex at any location along the frame during insertion of a daughterboard without the flexing affecting the position of any adjacent location of the flange with respect to the motherboard.

Electronics assembly

An electronics assembly, for example a computer that may be employed as a network server, has an enclosure, and a plurality of heat-generating components such as microprocessors located inside the enclosure. One or more fans may be provided for maintaining a through flow of air for cooling the components of the assembly. The heat-generating components are located within the enclosure in line with the direction of the flow of air, and the heat-sinks have a configuration such that the air flows over them in parallel. The heat-sinks may each have a flat base for mounting on the component, and a cantilevered portion having one end located on the base, and another end that extends beyond the base and over the base of the other heat-sink, but not in contact with it.

Electronics assembly with arrangement for air cooling

There is provided a computing apparatus. The computing apparatus has first and second computing elements and a heatsink thermally coupled to each of the first and second computing elements. A portion of the heatsink thermally coupled to the first computing element is thermally separated from a portion of the heatsink thermally coupled to the second computing element by a region having a reduced thermal conductivity.

Heatsink apparatus

Computing apparatus including a housing that defines a cavity. The computer apparatus further includes within the cavity multiple computing components, such as a processor, memory, and so on, and a fan for generating an airflow to cool these components. There is a first path defining an air inflow for the fan, and a second path defining an air outflow for the fan. One of these paths is externally ducted to a vent facility in a first wall of the housing, and the other one of the paths communicates with the cavity adjacent the first wall. Typically, the externally ducted airflow is arranged to cool a CPU, which is the component most vulnerable to over-heating.

Computing apparatus with cooling fan

A chassis for an electronics assembly comprises: The panel allows removal of individual fans from the panel and replacement of any fans while the panel is located on the frame, and the frame allows removal of the panel therefrom and replacement of the panel. The chassis thus allows replacement of any fans without the assembly being shut down, and also reduces downtime of the assembly if all the fans need replacing, for example for maintenance.

There is described a motion control device for preventing free-fall of electronics modules during vertical movement into or out of a supporting structure. The system comprises a rotatable element on the module or structure engageable with surface on the structure or module, respectively, for rolling movement therealong. The rotatable element is provided with a clutch or brake to provide resistance to rotation at least when the module is moving downward relative to the structure. The rotatable element may be a gear engageable with a toothed rack, or a friction roller engageable with a friction surface.

Motion control device

A support for holding an electronics assembly, comprises: The handles may be employed to lift both the assembly and the support, or they may be used to release the support from the assembly once the assembly is in place in an electronics cabinet. The support protects the assembly during installation in data centres after other packing materials have been discarded.

Support for electronics assembly

A chassis for an electronic system. The chassis includes a recess therein for housing a plurality of cooling fans that are arranged in series and can be removed from the recess by sliding out of the recess in a direction across the direction of intended airflow. The assembly is arranged such that any of the fans can be removed and replaced without interrupting operation of the or any other fan. The recess and/or the fans have a seal to prevent or reduce bypass leakage of air around the fans.

An electromagnetic (EM) shielding assembly includes an electrically conductive shielding portion and one or more electrically conductive protrusions for engaging with respective conductive apertures in a circuit board. The electrically conductive protrusions can be in electrical communication with the EM shielding portion. The protrusions can enable the EM shielding assembly to be attached to a circuit board in a computer system while also providing an electrical connection to logical ground. Further components, for example a heat sink that may be in electrical communication with the EM shielding portion, may thereby also be connected to logical ground.

Grounding mechanism retention feature

An electronics assembly comprises a frame ( ) that contains a motherboard ( ) and a plurality of daughterboards ( ). The frame has an opening opposite the motherboard to allow insertion of the daughterboards into the frame or removal of the daughterboards from the frame. The frame also has an injector/ejector mechanism ( ) for each daughterboard that is located on the daughterboard or the frame and a flange ( ) that extends adjacent to the opening and on which the injector/ejector mechanism of each daughterboard is attached or engages at different locations along the length thereof. The flange ( ) is divided into separate sections ( ) that correspond to the different locations to allow the flange to flex at any adjacent location during insertion of a daughterboard without the flexing affecting the position of any adjacent location of the flange with respect to the motherboard.

Growing community of inventors

Crowthorne, United Kingdom

Jay Kevin Osborn