Network Engines, Inc.

Network Engineers, Inc.

Jerry Jarvis

Robert A Wiley

David Potter

Joanne Sheehan

Christopher S Bonni

Thomas Savage

James Harvey Smith

Lawrence Genovesi

The invention herein pertains to improved methods and apparatus for electrically coupling components within a digital data system without the use of ribbon cables and other wires. The disclosed coupling device comprises a body member and at least one finger member. The body member physically and electrically couples with components mounted on a circuit board by mating with component pins extending on a solder side of the circuit board. The finger member is conjoined with the body member, and is a flexible, twistable, thin member containing electrically conductive vias coupled which couple the mounted components with an electrical connected located at the distal end of the finger member. The electrical connector at the distal end of the finger member can be a solder pad, a further member body, or other electrically coupling connector device. The finger member is designed to impact cooling air flow less than the disturbances created by conventional component coupling methods and apparatus, e.g., ribbon cable and wires, thereby increasing the effective heat dissipation within the digital data system.

Signal conducting applique and method for use with printed circuit board

A riser card, such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) card, attaches to a circuit board such as a mother board in a transverse orientation and has a first connector and a second connector attached to opposing sides of the card for receiving expansion cards. In one embodiment, the first connector is offset from the second connector with respect to an axis in the plane of the riser card. In another embodiment, the first and second connectors each have a first and last pin, and the first pin of the first card is opposite the first pin of the second connector. The riser card may mount one expansion board right side up, and the second board upside down. The first and second connectors can be female connectors which are each matable with a male connector on the corresponding expansion board, or can be card edge connectors. The expansion boards, when mated with the connectors, are substantially parallel to, but offset from the circuit board. Advantageously, the expansion boards consume less space in the housing by sharing a single riser card, and overall bus length may be substantially reduced between components in addition to providing additional, more open, or better channel space for cooling air flow. A preferred embodiment mounts centrally on a mother board, and provides two side channels for air flow cooling through the chassis of a rack-mounted web server data processor device.

Circuit board riser

A digital data processing device, e.g., a web server, having a power supply and at least one component such as a motherboard or a disk drive powered by the power supply and interconnected therewith by a power transfer element which is separate from the power supply and the component. The power transfer element is adapted to physically mate with the power supply and the powered component and to provide electrical coupling between them along a non-obstructing path of defined geometry. It includes a substantially rigid card, e.g. a circuit card, with at least one conductive pathway, and further aspects of the invention provide mechanisms for coupling the power transfer element to the supply and to the other component while orienting the card within the chassis. The power transfer card may carry an edge connector into which the edge of a power supply card fits, or vice-versa, so power enters conductors on the card at a proximal edge or end of the card. The conductors run to one or more lands positioned to couple power from conductive pathways out by direct contact to one or more conductive posts or stand-offs. Thus the card mounts parallel to one or more other boards, or devices, or is positioned parallel to a cooling air flow with minimally obstructive cross-section, and is securely held in a defined position and geometry within the chassis.

Power supply for low profile equipment housing

A low profile, high density storage array includes a digital data storage unit, such as a rack-mount chassis, and a plurality of digital data storage devices such as disk drives, disposed within the array. The drives are spaced apart from a floor of the array on which they are mounted, e.g., via supporting &ldquo;sleds.&rdquo; In addition to facilitating insertion and removal of the drives from the array, air flow through or beneath these sleds cool the drives. The drives can be removably attached to the array via cam-like levers that facilitate mounting and dismounting of the drives from the chassis and its electrical circuitry.

Growing community of inventors

South Weymouth, MA, United States of America

Jerry Jarvis