Digital Equipment Corporation

Robert George Ducharme

Theodore Ernst Bruning

Ewaryst Z Polch

Nanjappa Bakthavachalam

Eugene McNany

Michael K Ferris

Julie T Pettit

Chad Everett Dewitt

In a multiblower system for cooling electronic components, each blower has a backflow preventor. The backflow preventor has two pieces of flexible material and a screen attached to the intake side of the blower assembly. Each of the pieces of flexible material is scored through to form a petaled opening through which air may pass. The scores on one of the pieces of flexible material are out of alignment with the scores on the other piece when assembled together in the blower assembly. When the blower is running, the petals in the pieces of flexible material open to allow air to pass through the blower assembly. When the blower is stopped, the petals are closed against the screen due to the pressure differential between the inside of the enclosure and the outside of the enclosure caused by the effect of the draw of the other blowers in the system. The non-aligned scores on the two pieces of flexible material causes a seal to be formed through which air may not pass back into the enclosure through the stopped blower. In addition, the flexible material acts as a damper between the blower assembly and the electronics enclosure. Further, the petaled opening of the backflow preventor directs air more toward the center of the blower creating a laminar airflow, reducing the turbulence of the air as it is removed from the enclosure.

High efficiency blower system with integral backflow preventor

A composite shelf in a shelf frame supports a plurality of disk drives and attenuates vibrations in the shelf. In the composite shelf, there is a double wall having an outer wall and an inner wall for supporting the disk drives mounted on the shelf. A stiffener between the inner wall and outer wall strengthens the composite shelf to reduce flexure in the composite shelf when the shelf is loaded by disk drives mounted on the shelf. A damping layer is placed between the stiffener and one of the inner wall or outer wall. This damping layer attenuates vibrations in the composite shelf so as to reduce vibrations transmitted from the composite shelf to the disk drives supported by the composite shelf. A second damping layer is placed between the stiffener and the other wall. Both damping layers attenuate vibrations in the composite shelf so as to reduce vibrations transmitted from the composite shelf to the disk drives supported by the composite shelf. A third damping layer may be placed within the stiffener. The damping layers may be formed of adhesive damping layers, or a damping layer sandwiched between two adhesive layers. Alternatively, the stiffener is a spacer member between the inner wall and the outer wall.

Attenuating vibrations in a mounting shelf for multiple disk drives

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Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America

Robert George Ducharme