The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 12, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 15, 1996
Ewaryst Zygmunt Polch, Monument, CO (US);
Chad Everett Dewitt, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Theodore Ernst Bruning, III, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Nanjappa Bakthavachalam, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Robert George Ducharme, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA (US);
Abstract
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.