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:
Mar. 06, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 17, 1998
Donald P. Roehling, Eagle, ID (US);
Michael J. Anderson, Troy, ID (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A back cover assembly is provided for use in a device including a housing having a plurality of walls forming an enclosure. A blower mechanism is adapted to cause exhaust air to flow from an interior of the housing to an exterior of the housing. The back cover assembly is located in proximity with the blower mechanism, and includes an acoustical chamber adapted to permit exhaust air from the interior of the housing to pass therethrough. The acoustical chamber is adapted and constructed to reflect acoustical energy back into the blower mechanism. In an embodiment, at least one interior surface of the acoustical chamber is lined with a sound absorbing material such as polyurethane polyester foam. The acoustical chamber can include a front wall with at least one inlet open to blower mechanism, and a rear wall with at least one outlet. The outlet is in fluid communication with the at least one inlet on the front wall, and is open to the exterior of the housing. In order to provide the necessary acoustical reflectivity, the at least one inlet and the at least one outlet can be placed out of axial alignment with one another. For instance, where the at least one inlet is located at a top portion of the front wall, the at least one outlet may be located at a bottom portion of the rear wall. The at least one inlet and outlet can also be located at opposite sides of the chamber. Where there are a plurality of inlets and outlets, the plurality of inlets and outlets may be arranged to form respective inlet/outlet pairs. The acoustical chamber can be provided with at least one divider substantially spanning the space between the front and rear walls. The at least one dividers defines subchambers within the acoustical chamber, with each subchamber enclosing at least one inlet/outlet pair. The device with which the back cover assembly is associated may be provided as a disk array, such as a RAID system. Also disclosed is a method for reducing the amount of noise emitted by a device.