International Business Machines Corporation

John B Gillett

James H Spreen

John A Miraglia

Walter S Duspiva

Jerry A Lorenzen

Fred H Lohrey

A new machine design minimizes latency between many high performance processors and a large amount of shared memory. Wire length, latency and skew are minimized by stacking edge connected modules (ECMs). The ECMs are characterized by signal input/output (I/O) pads on three edges, the two opposing inside connector edges and the third global connector edge. The ECMs support multiple processors per module, a plurality of basic storage modules (BSMs) per module, and portions of request and response switches per module. A plurality of processor ECMs and request switch ECMs are stacked in a first stacks and a plurality of BSM ECMs and response switch ECMs are stacked in a second stack. The two stacks are arranged adjacent one another with the request switch ECMs above or below the processor ECMs and the response switch ECMs below or above the BSM ECMs so that the response switch ECMs are adjacent the processor ECMs and the request ECMs are adjacent the BSM ECMs. The data flow from a processor to addressed memory and back to the processor is unidirectional about a loop defined by connections on the inside edges of the ECMs. The stacks as described form a subsystem which may be used as a stand-alone system or interconnected with other subsystems via the global connectors connected to the third edges of the ECMs. The global connectors allow the processors of one subsystem to be connected to the BSMs of another subsystem.

High performance computer system which minimizes latency between many

A thermally actuated switch is useful for a redundant cryo-cooled system such as a computer system. In the path between two redundant cryo-heads, a thermally actuated switch which has two sensible parallel thermally conducting plates which are separated by an compressible gas (air) gap which provides a non-conducting fluid and a conducting fluid (mercury). Under operating conditions (below mercury freezing point), the gap is filled with solid mercury, providing an excellent thermal path. If a cooler fails, the temperature on its side of the thermal interface rises until the mercury liquifies. When liquid mercury is displaced from the gap by a non-conducting gas, a thermal open circuit is provided avoiding loss of heat from the alternative cryo-cooler.

Temperature actuated switch for cryo-coolers

A high density computer interconnection assembly is provided by a plurality of flat packages slidably mounted along a rack in a frame in one given plane. The packages include edge connected processors and switch modules with associated power supply. One or two interconnection wiring circuit boards extend perpendicular to the one given plane and adjacent and along the edge of the edge connected modules to couple thereto whereby the interconnection circuit board couples said switch modules to said processor modules along one broad surface of said interconnection circuit board. Memory cards are coupled to the opposite broad surface of the interconnection circuit board.

High density interconnection assembly

An integrated circuit chip package having a substrate containing integrated circuit chips thereon; signal input/out connections for the chips located at edges of a substrate; and conductive power planes are separated from the signal input/output connections and are removably connected to the substrate.

Integrated circuit chip package having signal input/output connections

A flexible film-type modular connector comprising a fixed block and a movable wedge-shaped block which is received within a V-shaped opening formed in the fixed block. The oblique angle at which contact is made between the fixed and movable blocks provides relative contact wipe and consistently reliable registration between the blocks while maintaining high contact normal force with low applied forces (i.e. zero insertion force). The oblique angle can be individually tailored to meet particular requirements as the connector is capable of connecting a variety of different components including cables, Printed Circuit Boards, Printed Circuit Cards, and other substrates.

Modular electrical connector

In a regulated power supply, particularly a pulse-width-modulated supply, the on-off control is located in the feedback path between the supply output terminal and the pulse-width-modulator. Transformer coupled polling pulses sense both the state of the on-off control and the magnitude of the feedback error signal.

Regulated power supply with electrically isolated control and variable

A high performance computer system with a plurality of processors and memory modules is arranged with the processor modules stacked one upon the other with first switch modules in a first stack and with the memory modules stacked one on the other with second switch modules in a second stack. The first and second stacks are arranged adjacent to each other with the first and second switch modules diagonally opposed. Interconnecting bus lines couple the processors to the memory modules through the first switch modules and couple the memory modules back to the processors through the second switch modules. The flow of data is in one direction through the memory modules and switches to reduce wire length, latency and skew while supporting fast cycle time and high bandwidth.

High performance computer system with unidirectional information flow

A transformer has a multi-turn magnetic core about a loop of conductor. A bridge transformer has one turn of the core about one half of the conductor loop and a second turn of the core about the other half of the conductor loop, and an electrical center tap connection to the loop between the two halves thereof. Embedded diodes connect the ends of the loop to an external circuit.

Transformer having plural-turn core

A connector mechanism optically interconnecting a first plurality of optical fibers on a first structure with a second plurality of optical fibers on a second structure. A common actuator mounted on the second structure so as to have one degree of freedom of movement only relative thereto between a first position and a second position. The common actuator locking toe two structures to each other when is an engaged juxtaposition. The second plurality of optical fibers are carried by the actuator in independent orthogonal motions relative to said first plurality of optical fibers by movement of the actuator while the structures are maintained in engaged juxtaposition.

Zero insertion force optical connector

A flat cable bus with fan-out patterns which provide equal length wires to eliminate clock skew is disclosed.

Parallel cable bus with internal path length compensation

A regulated voltage electrical power system has a driving section and a driven section. The driving section includes a power transformer primary structure and a ripple current carrying, driving winding of a filter system for the smoothed outputs circuits of the power system, each of which includes a single turn, driven filter winding magnetically coupled to the driving winding by a multi-path core structure. Each driven filter winding links that part of the multi-path structure which corresponds in cross-sectional area to the relative ripple voltage imposed by the power transformer on it. The power transformer secondaries for the outputs of the power system are also of a single turn each, differing output voltages being achieved by provision of differing number of primary winding turns associated with the various outputs. Planar diodes and core gap-filling ferrite inserts are provided in the secondary winding structures.

Pluggable power system having magnetic flux coupled power transformer

A d.c. to d.c. converter system converts a d.c. signal into a pulsating a.c. signal, which is applied to the primary of a power transformer. A transformer in which the primary and secondary windings are planar is employed to generate the output pulse signal. The planar transformer design provides the inductance required to filter the output signal and reduce the ripple therein, while simultaneously providing tight coupling between the primary and secondary windings. A single turn secondary winding is provided to reduce the number of turns in the transformer and thereby reduce the associated power loss.

D. C. to D. C. converter

A connector mechanism for electrically connecting two structures 22, 24 carrying conducting lines 26, comprises fixed contacts 28 on one of the structures and floating contacts 30 on the other of the structures, the floating contacts being free to move towards and away from the fixed contacts and across the fixed contacts as independent motions, under the control of a common actuator 50, 52, 54, each floating contact being an electrically integral part, carried by the actuator, of a flexible conductive film 34. The provision of a shroud 46 on the fixed contact structure carrying markings 48A, 48B registered with the fixed contacts 28 and engaging the actuator provides coarse location, while the flexibility of the web and the mounting of the floating contacts on a resilient pad 38 on a carriage 50 provided with cam followers 54 riding on a multi-throw linear cam 52, together comprising the actuator permits independent locating and wiping motions, independently of each other and at selected pressures, including zero pressure on insertion, making the connector mechanism an effective ZIF connector.

Connector mechanisms

A high-density printed circuit card electrical contact pad pattern that preserves card surface area while maintaining loose mechanical tolerance requirements and a high probability of contact. The invention exploits the elliptical shape of the area of high probability of contact between the contact pins of a mating connector and the card surface. The elliptical area is derived by an accumulation of mechanical tolerances associated with the card and with the pins of the mating connector. A plurality of rows of contacts are disposed along an edge of the card with each contact enclosing one elliptical area of high probability of contact. Each row is offset with respect, to, and slightly interleaved with adjacent rows.

High-density electrical contact pad pattern

An actuator for a zero insertion force printed circuit board connector. Two connectors are used in opposing pairs to connect to parallel edges of a printed circuit board. Moving a first actuator mechanism on the first connector moves the printed circuit board toward the opposite connector to a fixed position and then causes a closing/wiping action of the contacts of the first connector. A second actuator mechanism, located on the second connector, has operation substantially identical to that of the first mechanism except the printed circuit board does not move. The two connectors are mechanically substantially identical and the actuation sequence is independent of the handle sequence. Another embodiment for contacting a single edge of a printed circuit board is disclosed wherein one of the aforementioned two connectors is replaced by a simple guideway.

Growing community of inventors

Woodstock, NY, United States of America

John B Gillett