JP2012089614A - Rack mount type fan unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rack mount type fan unit which increases the number of fans to reduce the risk during the replacement and the down time, adopts an isolation structure for electronic component arrangement, and improves the expandability by modularizing the fan unit while maintaining the unit size equivalent to a normal incorporated type fan unit that is 1U.SOLUTION: In a rack mount type fan unit in which multiple fan incorporated housings are attached to a frame housing with the multiple fan incorporated housings arranged in a lateral direction, a pressing member, which simultaneously presses side surfaces of the fan incorporated housings and fixes the fan incorporated housings to the frame housing, is provided.

Description

  The present invention relates to a rack-mounted fan unit to which a plurality of fans are attached, and more particularly to a rack-mounted fan unit that facilitates maintenance, is miniaturized, and has improved expandability.

  In general, electronic devices such as communication devices and information devices have entered an advanced information age, and the density of these precision devices has been increasing year by year. Corresponding to this, the heat density inside the equipment has increased, and as a result, a cooling technique that suppresses the rise in the internal temperature has become essential.

Conventionally, natural air cooling has been performed using air flow (natural convection) due to temperature differences inside the equipment, but the heat density inside the equipment has increased and the air cooling treatment has not been in time, and the era of forced air cooling using a fan motor In.
However, the life of the fan motor is short, and when used for electronic equipment, it is usual to use a fan motor that can be easily replaced as a unit.

  8 and 9 are perspective views of a conventional separated fan motor unit. FIG. 8 shows a rectangular frame housing 1 partitioned by a partition portion 1a and a rectangular fan built-in housing. A state in which two (hereinafter referred to as fan casing) 2 are housed is shown.

  FIG. 9 shows a state in which one of the two fan casings 2 is pulled out from the frame casing 1 shown in FIG. 8. The rail engaging member 4 formed on the fan casing 2 is shown in FIG. It is configured to move in the direction of arrow Y along the guide rail 3. In addition, finger guards 5 that are supply / exhaust openings through which air passes are formed on the upper and rear surfaces of the fan housing 2.

  Although not shown in the drawing, a connector is provided at the tip (back) of the fan housing 2, and a connector for connecting the connector of the fan housing 2 is disposed on the back side of the frame housing 1. As shown in FIG. 8, when the fan housing 2 is mounted along the guide rail 3 of the frame housing 1, the connectors are mounted and the fan is driven.

  FIG. 10 shows an integrated structure in which the fan housing 2 shown in FIG. 9 is attached to the integrated frame 6 with a plurality of (four in the figure) screws and fixtures.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-7891 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-178291

By the way, the above rack mounting type unit has the following advantages and disadvantages.
A. Advantages of separate type,
Since the fan housing 2 can be replaced only by work from the front, the fan housing 2 can be replaced easily. Only one unit can be replaced in the mounted state. Since it continues to drive, the fan unit's cooling capacity can be minimized.

B, Disadvantages of separation type,
Since the guide rail mechanism (3, 4) and the mechanism for fixing the housing 2 (an appropriate fixing method is necessary in consideration of fan vibration) are required for each fan, the structure of the fan unit is To be complicated. Therefore, the space occupied by one fan is widened, and it is necessary to take measures such as reducing the number or enlarging the fan unit to fit in the frame housing 1.

  In FIG. 9, the size is increased to accommodate two fan housings, and the fan unit is 2U size. Note that the 2U size means a housing of the control device main body having a flat shape of about 89 mm, which is stored in a 19-inch wide rack standardized by JIS and EIA, and is called a 2U size.

C. Merits of the integrated type,
Since the shape is simple, the space occupied by a single fan is smaller than that of the separate type and can be downsized. In FIG. 11, four fan casings 2 can be mounted and can be accommodated in a 1U size.

D. Integrated disadvantages,
When replacing the fan housing 2, it is necessary to remove the entire fan unit or remove the fan housing in the vertical direction, which increases the amount of work and requires a large work space.
If the entire fan unit is replaced, the electronic device cannot be cooled at the time of replacement. As a result, there is a risk of device failure or shortening of the service life.

Comparing the separated type and the integrated type,
For maintenance such as replacement work, the separation structure is advantageous, but the mounting efficiency of the fan housing 2 is poor. On the other hand, the integrated type has better mounting efficiency of the fan housing than the separated type, but there is a difference that the workability of replacing the fan housing is difficult. Both are used in various places because of their advantages and disadvantages.

Problems 1. Risk generation due to a decrease in the number of fan housings 2 mounted in a separated structure,
Since the structure of FIGS. 9 and 10 can mount only two fan housings, when the one-side fan housing is replaced or fails, all electronic devices are cooled when the electronic device to be cooled is 19 inches wide. There is a risk that is difficult.

Problem 2. Regarding the extensibility of functions
In both cases, it is not easy to replace the board (not shown) of the fan unit.
In the separation structure, since the connector (not shown) is pointed directly at the board, it is necessary to place the board at a fixed position in the back of the fan unit. In addition, the guide rail 3 and the like cannot be exchanged.

  The monolithic structure requires the same replacement work as the fan and causes the same risk. Therefore, the demerit of man-hours (cost) due to replacement work is better than the merit of having functions such as FUSE and LED for operation confirmation in the fan unit, so it is difficult to mount electronic devices and it is difficult to expand the function There is.

  Therefore, the present invention improves the separation structure of the prior art shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and reduces the number of fans in order to reduce the risk at the time of replacement and failure while being accommodated in 1U of the same size as a general integrated type. An object of the present invention is to provide a rack mountable fan unit that has an increased expandability by modularizing the arrangement of electronic components as well as increasing the number of electronic components.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in the rack mountable fan unit according to claim 1,
In a rack-mounted fan unit in which a plurality of fan-incorporated casings are mounted side by side on a frame casing, a pressing member that simultaneously presses the side surfaces of the plurality of fan-incorporated casings and fixes the same to the frame casing It is provided.

In claim 2, in the rack-mounted fan unit according to claim 1,
A hinge and a locking screw for locking the pressing member and the frame housing are provided.

In claim 3, in the rack-mounted fan unit according to claim 1 or 2,
An elastic body is interposed between the pressing member and the fan built-in housing.

In claim 4, in the rack-mounted fan unit according to claims 1 to 3,
An engagement member for restricting the movement of the fan-incorporated casing in the left-right and up-down directions relative to the frame casing is provided.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, a pressing member that simultaneously presses the side surfaces of a plurality of fan-incorporated housings and fixes them to the frame housing is provided. Hinges and locking screws for locking the housing make it easy to mount and remove the fan built-in housing, and maintain the cooling capacity of other fan built-in housings when replacing one fan built-in housing. Can do.

  According to the third aspect, since the elastic body is interposed between the pressing member and the fan built-in housing, the fan built-in housing can be pressed with substantially the same force.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the engaging member that restricts the movement of the fan-incorporated casing and the frame casing in the left-right and up-down directions is provided, the rattling of the fan-incorporated casing can be prevented.

It is a perspective view of the rack mounting type fan unit of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the latching state of the back part of a frame housing | casing and a fan built-in housing | casing. It is a perspective view which shows the latching state of the bottom part of a frame housing | casing and a fan built-in housing | casing. It is sectional drawing which shows the latching state of a frame housing | casing and a cover housing | casing. It is a perspective view which shows the fixed state of a frame housing | casing, a fan built-in housing | casing, and a cover housing | casing. It is a perspective view which shows another Example. It is a perspective view which shows another Example. It is a perspective view of the conventional rack mounting type fan unit. It is a perspective view which shows the state which pulled out the fan built-in housing | casing of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the prior art example which attached multiple units | sets of the fan built-in housing | casing to the integral frame, and was made into the integral structure.

1A and 1B are perspective views of a rack-mounted fan unit according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, reference numeral 31 denotes a frame casing that houses four fan-incorporated casings 32, and this frame casing is fixed to a rack (not shown) via a frame locking hole 31a. The fan-incorporated housing 32 has an air supply / exhaust opening 32c as an air passage hole at the top and bottom and an attachment portion (not shown) at the tip, and the built-in fan (not shown) is connected to the fan locking screw 32b. Use to fix.

  Reference numeral 31b denotes a protrusion insertion hole formed on the upper side of the frame casing 31, and a flat protrusion 32a formed to protrude rearward of the fan built-in casing 32 is inserted into the protrusion insertion hole 31b. The bottom of the front surface of the frame housing 31 and the bottom of the cover housing 10 that functions as a pressing member are rotatably connected by hinges 9 that are arranged at a predetermined distance (two locations in the figure).

  Reference numeral 8 denotes an elastic member that presses the fan housing 32 and the cover housing 10 in a uniform state when the cover housing 10 is rotated toward the frame housing 31 and fixed with the locking screw 11. FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a state in which the cover housing 10 is opened, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing a state in which the four fan housings 32 are fixed simultaneously by rotating the cover housing.

  FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram when the fan-incorporated housing 32 is fixed to the frame housing 31. 2a shows a state before insertion, and FIG. 2b shows a state after insertion. The flat protrusion 32a formed in the fan-incorporated housing 32 is inserted into the protrusion insertion hole 31b formed in the upper part of the frame housing 31 from the arrow P direction. By this insertion, it is possible to restrict the horizontal movement indicated by the arrow A and the vertical movement indicated by the arrow B.

  3A to 3D show the movement of the fan housing 32 by engaging the engaging claws 12a formed at the front of the frame housing 31 with the engaging pieces 12b formed at the front of the bottom of the fan housing 32. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which regulates. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the fan housing 32 is pulled out from the frame housing 31 to the position indicated by the arrow, and FIG. 3B shows the state where the fan housing 32 is inserted to the position indicated by the arrow. A state where the joining piece 12b is engaged with the engaging claw 12a is shown.

  FIG. 3C shows a state where the engaging piece 12b and the engaging claw 12a are engaged, and shows that the direction indicated by the arrow and the direction indicated by the arrow are fixed. FIG. 3D shows a state in which the two fan casings 32 are inserted next to each other and the movements in the arrow H direction are restricted between the fan casings 32 using a fixing bracket (not shown).

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the cover casing 10 connected to the frame casing 31 by the hinge 9 is rotated in the direction of the arrow and fixed to the frame casing 31 by the locking screw 11. By tightening with the locking screw 11, the elastic body 8 is pressed against the frame housing 31, and the plurality of fan housings can be pressed with substantially the same force.

  FIG. 5 shows a fixing position of the fan housing 32 with respect to the frame housing 31. By inserting the flat projection 32a into the projection insertion hole 31b, the movement in the direction of arrows A and B is restricted. By engaging the engagement piece 12b formed on the fan housing with the formed engagement claw 12a, the movement in the direction of the arrow and G is restricted, and the cover housing 10 is tightened by the locking screw 11 to elastic body 8 The state where the movement in the arrow H direction is regulated by pressing the fan housing 32 is shown.

  FIG. 6 shows another embodiment. In this example, the frame housing 33 is large enough to mount the fan housings 34 in two rows in the horizontal direction, and protrudes from the front of the front fan housing 34. An insertion hole 34b is provided. A flat projection 34a formed on the fan housing 34 is inserted into the projection insertion hole 34b.

  The fan housings 34 mounted in two rows by the elastic member 8 and the cover housing 10 are fixed to the frame housing 33 with the engaging claws 12a and the engaging pieces 12b shown in FIG. Fix it. According to such a configuration, a large number of fan housings 34 can be mounted, and the cooling capacity can be improved.

  FIG. 7 shows another embodiment. In this example, rails 13a and 13b as slide mechanisms are prepared between a frame housing 31 and a fan housing 32, and the fan housing 32 is pulled out. is there. In that case, a slide mechanism is provided by sandwiching a ball between the rails 13a and 13b. That is, the slide mechanism is realized by fixing the rail 13a to the frame casing 31 and stopping the rail of 13b to the cover casing 10 via a jig.

  It should be noted that the rotation mechanism using the hinges or the slide mechanism using the rails may be selected according to other equipment mounted on the 19-inch rack or the space in the cabinet. There may be a mechanism that can be stopped so that the electrical wiring work in the ten cases can be performed.

  The above description merely shows a specific preferred embodiment for the purpose of explanation and illustration of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes many changes and modifications without departing from the essence thereof.

1,31,33 Frame housing 1a Partition 2,32,34 Built-in fan housing (fan housing)
3 Guide rail 4 Rail engaging member 5 Finger guard (supply / exhaust opening)
6 Integrated frame 7, 32b Fan locking screw 8 Elastic member 9 Hinge 10 Pressing member (cover housing)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Locking screw 12 Engaging member 31 Frame housing | casing 31a Frame locking hole 32a, 34a Flat projection 34b Projection insertion hole

Claims (4)

  In a rack-mounted fan unit in which a plurality of fan-incorporated casings are mounted side by side on a frame casing, a pressing member that simultaneously presses the side surfaces of the plurality of fan-incorporated casings and fixes the same to the frame casing A rack-mounted fan unit characterized by being provided.   The rack-mounted fan unit according to claim 1, further comprising a hinge and a locking screw for locking the pressing member and the frame housing.   The rack-mounted fan unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an elastic body is interposed between the pressing member and the fan built-in housing.   The rack-mountable fan unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an engaging member that restricts movement of the fan-incorporated casing in a horizontal and vertical direction with respect to the frame casing.

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