CN110048344B

CN110048344B - Cable holder and corresponding rack server

Info

Publication number: CN110048344B
Application number: CN201810040394.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李长兴
Original assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd
Current assignee: Lenovo Global Technologies International Ltd
Priority date: 2018-01-16
Filing date: 2018-01-16
Publication date: 2021-11-26
Anticipated expiration: 2038-01-16
Also published as: CN110048344A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a cable holder for a rack server and a rack server having such a cable holder. The cable holder includes: a first member for securing to a server wall of the rack server; and a second component releasably coupled to the first component, wherein the second component comprises a retaining component adapted to retain a first cable, wherein the second component is releasable from the first component to connect the first cable to at least one first electronic device to be coupled to the rack server. With the cable holder of the present disclosure, wiring overhead can be saved and a more flexible wiring design is provided, thereby providing the possibility for large-scale modular construction of servers.

Description

Cable holder and corresponding rack server

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to a server, and more particularly, to a cable holder used in a rack server and a rack server having the same.

Background

As internet-based applications such as cloud services become more widespread, rack-or cabinet-based data centers are also increasingly being used. To further advance the modular layout in a rack or cabinet based data center so that existing server functions or modules can be easily expanded, it is often necessary to optimize existing wiring designs.

For example, for a tiered server, a rack has strict spatial constraints in terms of the assembly of the tiers. Cables need to be routed in a complex series of routes between the layers of the rack, due to the air tightness of the layers, the layout of the various modules provided in the server and the location of the power or signal sources. This cumbersome wiring design often presents various problems for installation, maintenance, or repair of the servers.

Disclosure of Invention

To at least partially address the problems of the prior art and others, a cable retainer for use in a server rack is provided that can simplify the wiring design for a server rack having a hierarchical management module.

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a cable holder for a rack server is provided. The cable holder includes: a first member for securing to a server wall of the rack server; and a second component releasably coupled to the first component, wherein the second component comprises a retaining component adapted to retain a first cable, wherein the second component is releasable from the first component to connect the first cable to at least one first electronic device to be coupled to the rack server.

In some embodiments, wherein the first component comprises a slot arranged in a longitudinal direction of the first component, and the second component comprises a pin adapted to be inserted into the slot.

In some embodiments, wherein the first member comprises a plurality of guide members for guiding the second member such that the pin is inserted into the slot.

In some embodiments, wherein at least one of the guide members comprises a tactile member protruding towards the sidewall indicating that the second member reaches a stop point.

In some embodiments, wherein the second member comprises a first aperture for holding the tactile member.

In some embodiments, the cable holder further comprises a handle portion coupled to the second component and rotatable about an axis between a first position and a second position to secure or release the second component.

In some embodiments, wherein the handle portion includes a first end and a second end and the first component includes a second aperture and a third aperture, the first end and the second end of the handle portion engage into the second aperture and the third aperture in the first position and are released from the second aperture and the third aperture in the second position.

In a second aspect of the disclosure, a rack server is provided. The rack server comprises a cable holder according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the rack server further comprises a first rack layer for housing the at least one first electronic device; a second chassis layer for housing at least one second electronic device; and an intermediate layer for separating the first rack layer from the second rack layer, wherein the holding member is further adapted to hold a second cable of the at least one second electronic device to connect the second cable with the first cable.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Several embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side perspective view of a server rack with a first component installed according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a side perspective view of a second component to be mounted to the first component in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of a first component according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of a first component according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a second component according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of a second component according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a front view of a cable retainer according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows a side view of a cable retainer according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of a cable holder according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic view of a cable holder according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a top view of a server rack according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Like or corresponding reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but rather are provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the disclosure are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

The term "include" and variations thereof as used herein is meant to be inclusive in an open-ended manner, i.e., "including but not limited to". Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term "or" means "and/or". The term "based on" means "based at least in part on". The terms "one example embodiment" and "one embodiment" mean "at least one example embodiment". The term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment". The terms "first," "second," and the like may refer to different or the same object. Other explicit and implicit definitions are also possible below.

Currently, for rack or cabinet based data centers, modular structural layouts are a trend to enable expansion of existing server functions or modules. For example, rack servers can be expanded in units of layers without having to resort to cumbersome module designs. For this purpose, on the one hand, the structural arrangement of the rack servers themselves is required to have strict space restrictions, and on the other hand, a wiring scheme that is as simple and as easy as possible is required. The original cabling scheme requires a complex series of routes of cables between the various levels of the rack. This cumbersome wiring design often presents various problems for installation, maintenance, or repair of the servers.

Especially for server racks having multiple tiers, in view of airtightness of each tier, layout of each server module, and location of a power supply or a signal source, it is necessary to, for example, guide a cable connecting the power supply or the signal source from the lowermost rack to the upper rack, after a series of complicated routes, so that the cable can be plugged to a module (e.g., GPU module) to be connected, which is arranged in the upper rack.

This results in, on the one hand, a waste of human resources and an increase in costs in the initial cabling installation, and, on the other hand, the cables first need to be pulled out of the modules as soon as it is necessary to remove certain upper server modules. For an operator who is unaware of the dismantling process, once the module is directly removed from the server without first releasing the cable plugged to the module, it is likely that the entire server is powered off or even burned down due to damage of the cable caused by the assembly force, thereby causing loss of important data. These factors severely impact the security performance of the server and significantly increase repair and maintenance costs.

Therefore, an effective method is needed to solve the above and other possible technical problems. To this end, the present disclosure provides a cable holder capable of significantly simplifying the overhead of wiring design. Furthermore, the cable holder can be mounted inside the server rack or removed from the inside of the server in a simple manner.

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to fig. 1 to 11. FIG. 1 shows a side perspective view of a server rack with a first component according to one embodiment of the disclosure installed, and FIG. 2 shows a side perspective view of a second component according to one embodiment of the disclosure to be installed to the first component in FIG. 1. The structure of a cable holder according to one embodiment of the disclosure is first globally described with reference to fig. 1 and 2.

The server racks 200 and the rack walls 210 of the server racks 200 are shown in fig. 1 and 2. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, a cable holder 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first member 130 secured to the rack wall 210 and a second member 120 releasably coupled to the first member 130. As can be seen in fig. 2, the second member 120 comprises a holding member 110, the holding member 110 being adapted to hold a first cable 220, so that the first cable 220 can be connected to at least one first electronic device (not shown) to be coupled to the rack server 200. Preferably, one end of the first cable 220 is connected to a power supply device, and the other end of the first cable 220 is connected to a processor Unit (General Processing Unit). It can thus be seen that the cable holder 100 provides a connection device for the power supply device and the processor unit that is both flexible and convenient.

It should be understood that fig. 1 merely illustrates one location where the first member 130 is mounted by way of example. In a manner consistent with the purposes of this disclosure, the first component 130 may be secured to the rack wall 210 at any reasonable location according to the wiring scheme of the server rack 200. In addition, two or more first members 130 may also be disposed on the frame wall 210.

In some embodiments, the first member 130 may be secured to the frame wall 210 by screws. However, it should be understood that other structures or components on the frame wall 210 that can be used to secure the first component 130 can be used.

In some embodiments, the retention member 110 of the second member 120 may be adapted to retain a plurality of cables, depending on the requirements of the module to which the cable retainer 110 is to be connected. It should be understood that the number relationship of the retaining members 110 and the cables need not be one-to-one.

In this way, the cable holder 100 according to the disclosure can on the one hand be arranged in a simple manner at any desired location of the rack wall 210 and can be easily disassembled. On the other hand, since the use of the cable holder 100 according to the present disclosure has flexible mounting locations, cumbersome wiring designs in the server rack 200 can be significantly simplified, i.e., cables no longer have to be routed to locations with strict space restrictions. This provides a decisive prerequisite for the modular design of the rack server 200.

Fig. 3 illustrates a front view of a first component according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 4 illustrates a side view of the first component according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 5 shows a schematic view of a second component according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 6 shows a schematic view of a second component according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The structure of the first member 130 and the second member 120 in fig. 1 and 2 is further described below in conjunction with fig. 3 to 4.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the first member 130 may include a groove 131, which may be provided on the first member 130 along a longitudinal direction Y (see fig. 2) of the first member 130. As shown in fig. 6, the second member 120 includes a pin 121. As can be seen in connection with fig. 2 of fig. 1, when the first member 130 is secured to the frame wall 210, the second member 120 can be coupled to the first member 130 by inserting the pin 121 into the slot 131 of the first member 130. In the embodiment shown here, the first part 130 can be regarded as a base of the cable holder 100, for example, while the second part 120 can be regarded as a counterpart of the first part 130 to be mutually coupled with the first part 130.

In some embodiments, the slot 131 of the first member 130 may also be disposed along a transverse direction (not shown) of the first member 130. The opening direction of the groove 131 can be flexibly determined according to the installation requirements of the cable holder 100.

Although in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second member 120 is coupled to the first member 130 by a latch-type coupling. However, it should be understood that other ways of removably coupling first member 130 and second member 120 to one another are within the scope of the present disclosure.

With continued reference to fig. 3 and 4, in certain embodiments, the first component 130 further includes a plurality of

guide members

132, 133 that guide the second component 130 as the second component 120 is inserted into the first component 130. In some embodiments, the

guide members

132 and 133 may be disposed, for example, at both sides of the first member 130 in the transverse direction L to partially surround the second member 120 when the second member 120 is coupled to the first member 130.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the first member 130 may further include a tactile member 134 disposed on at least one of the

guide members

132, 133. For example, in some embodiments, the tactile member 134 may be a projection toward the chassis wall 210 disposed on a side of the guide member toward the chassis wall 210. Accordingly, as can be seen in fig. 5, the second part 120 comprises a first hole 122 which, when the pin 121 of the second part 120 is inserted into the slot 131 of the first part 130 and slides in the direction of the slot 131, just causes the tactile member 134 on the guide member to snap into this first hole 122 and to make a "click", which means that the second part 120 has reached the stop point 137 of the first part 130. The stop point 137 shown in fig. 3 is a stopper or the like disposed at the lower end in the longitudinal direction Y of the first member 130. Other components that can function the same as the stop component 134 shown in fig. 3 are also possible. By the cooperation of the tactile element 134 and the stop point 137, on the one hand the position of the second element 120 is defined and, on the other hand, the possibility of the pin 121 of the second element 120 slipping out of the groove 131 of the first element 130 is avoided.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, second member 120 further includes a handle portion 140. In fig. 5 and 6, handle parts 140 are coupled to both ends of the second member 120 in a transverse direction of the second member 120 for fixing the second member 120 to the first member 130 or releasing it from the first member 130. A detailed description of the operation of the handle portion 140 will be set forth further below.

Fig. 7 shows a front view of a cable holder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 8 shows a side view of a cable holder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 9 shows a schematic view of a cable holder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 10 shows a schematic view of a cable holder according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, first end 144 and second end 145 of handle portion 140 are hinged in the direction of rotation axis X of handle portion 140 to holes provided respectively at both ends of second member 120 (only one of holes 127 is identified in fig. 8, it being understood that the other end of second member 120 opposite thereto is provided with a hole identical or similar to hole 127) so that handle portion 140 can be rotated about rotation axis X to a first position for securing second member 120 to first member 130 and a second position for releasing second member 120 from first member 130.

Fig. 7 and 8 show the handle section 140 in a second position. It should be understood that the second position is an initial state of the second member 120 before being mounted to the first member 130 or a state in which the second member 120 is ready to be released from the first member 130. A state with the handle portion 140 in the second position has been shown, for example, in fig. 2. With continued reference to fig. 8, the first member 130 is provided at both ends in the direction of the rotation axis X of the second member 120 with two holes that are aligned with the holes at both ends of the second member 120, respectively. One of the holes 135 is shown, for example, in fig. 8. When handle portion 140 of second member 120 is in the second position, neither end of handle portion 140 engages with both apertures of first member 130, as best seen, for example, by end 144 shown in FIG. 8. That is, in this case, the second member 120 can be detached from the first member 130.

As shown in fig. 8, in some embodiments, second member 120 further includes two

recesses

125 and 126 to block further rotation of handle portion 140 when handle portion 140 is rotated to the second position.

Fig. 9 and 10 show the handle section 140 in the first position. As can be seen in fig. 9 and 10, the handle portion 140 is in a first position, which is rotated about the rotation axis X by approximately 90 degrees relative to a second position. When handle portion 140 of second member 120 is in the first position, both ends 144 and 145 of handle portion 140 engage two holes, respectively, of first member 130, as can be clearly seen, for example, by end 144 shown in fig. 10, which engages hole 135 of first member 130. That is, in this case, the grip portion 140 applies a clamping force to the member 120 in the direction of the rotation axis X so that the second member 120 is fixed to the first member 130.

In some embodiments, second member 120 also includes two recesses to block further rotation of handle portion 140 when handle portion 140 is rotated to the first position. Although only one recess 124 is shown in fig. 10. It will be appreciated that a recess identical or similar to the recess 124 is provided on the other end of the second part 120 opposite the end where the recess 124 is located.

It is noted that the handle portion 140 in fig. 7 to 10 is only one embodiment of the present disclosure for exemplarily explaining how to fix the second member 120 to the first member 130 or release it from the first member 130. It should be understood that other securing structures capable of removably securing second member 120 to first member 130 are possible. For example, a locking, snap-fit or screw-fit element is provided at each of the two ends of the second part 120 in the transverse direction.

The cable connector 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail above in conjunction with fig. 1 to 10. With such a cable connector 100, the overhead of wiring design can be significantly simplified on the one hand. On the other hand, the cable holder 100 can be mounted inside the server rack or removed from the inside of the server in a simple manner.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a rack server 200 having the cable holder 100 described in the exemplary embodiments of fig. 1-10. A rack server 200 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 11.

In certain embodiments, the rack servers 200 can be divided into at least one tier, particularly along the lateral direction L shown in fig. 11, e.g., a first rack tier and a second rack tier. The first rack level and the second rack level are separated, for example, by a middle level 205 of rack servers 200. In fig. 11, only one of the first chassis level and the second chassis level, e.g., the second chassis level, is visible due to the obstruction by the middle layer 205. In some embodiments, the first rack layer is configured to house at least one first electronic device and the second rack layer is configured to house at least one second electronic device.

It should be noted that the first electronic device and the second electronic device referred to herein may include any electronic components arranged in the rack server 200 and to be coupled to the rack server 200, such as a power supply, a signal source, a CPU, a GPU, and the like.

As shown in fig. 11, the cable holder 100 is fixed to a rack wall 210 of the rack server 200. The specific structure of the cable holder 100 and the assembly thereof have been described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 10, and thus are not described herein again.

As can be seen in fig. 11, the holding part 110 of the second part 120 is exposed from the intermediate layer 205. As already mentioned before, the holding part 110 is adapted to hold a first cable for at least one first electronic device (see fig. 2, cable 220). In some embodiments, the first cable may be hidden below the middle layer 205, for example. The holding member 110 may also be adapted to hold a second cable (not shown) for at least one second electronic device to connect the first cable and the second cable. In particular, in some embodiments, the second electronic device may be in a different rack level in the rack server 200 than the first electronic device. The holding device 110 can thus in particular connect cables in different rack levels in the rack server 200. This means that no cumbersome routing is required for the electronic components in the different chassis layers in the chassis server 200.

An additional advantage of using a cable holder according to the present disclosure in a tiered rack server is that the handle portion 140 of the second part 120 for disassembling the cable holder 100 is hidden under the middle tier 205 after the middle tier 205 is installed, since cables do not need to be routed at each tier (e.g., cables are pulled directly from the first rack tier to the second rack tier). Therefore, for an operator who does not know the dismounting process, even if the electronic equipment module on the upper layer is not dismounted according to the specified mounting sequence, the cable on the lower layer and the corresponding electronic equipment module cannot be damaged due to wrong pulling, and the server power failure and burning-out and important data loss caused by the cable breakage are avoided.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or improvements made to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A cable holder (100) for a rack server (200), comprising:

a first member (130) for securing to a server wall (210) of the rack server (200); and

a second component (120) releasably coupled to the first component (130),

wherein the second part (120) comprises a holding part (110) adapted to hold a first cable, wherein the second part (120) is releasable from the first part (130) to connect the first cable to at least one first electronic device to be coupled to the rack server (200),

the first member (130) includes a groove (131) provided along a longitudinal direction of the first member (130), the first member (130) includes a plurality of guide members (132, 133) for guiding the second member (120), at least one of the guide members (132, 133) includes a tactile member (134) protruding toward the server wall (210) serving as a stopper member to prevent the second member (120) from slipping out of the first member (130) serving as a base.

2. The cable holder (100) according to claim 1, wherein the second part (120) comprises a pin (121) adapted to be inserted into the slot (130).

3. The cable holder (100) according to claim 2, wherein the pin (121) is inserted into the slot (131).

4. The cable holder (100) of claim 1, wherein the second part (120) comprises a first hole (122) for holding the haptic (134).

5. The cable holder (100) of claim 1, further comprising:

a handle portion (140) coupled to the second part (120) and rotatable about an axis (X) between a first position and a second position to secure or release the second part (120).

6. The cable holder (100) of claim 5, wherein the handle portion (140) includes a first end (144) and a second end (145), and

the first part (130) comprises a second hole (135) and a third hole (136), the first end (144) and the second end (145) of the handle portion (140) being engaged in the second hole (135) and the third hole (136), respectively, in the first position and being released from the second hole (135) and the third hole (136), respectively, in the second position.

7. A rack server (200) comprising a cable holder (100) according to any of the preceding claims 1-6.

8. The rack server (200) of claim 7, further comprising:

a first chassis layer for housing the at least one first electronic device;

a second chassis layer for housing at least one second electronic device; and

an intermediate layer for separating the first chassis layer from the second chassis layer,

wherein the holding member (110) is further adapted to hold a second cable of the at least one second electronic device to connect the second cable with the first cable.

9. The rack server (200) of claim 8, said first electronic device being a power supply device.

10. The rack server (200) of claim 8, said second electronic device being a processor unit GPU.