JPH11233985A - Electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the cooling property of various kinds of electronic components and hard disk drive without destroying the balance of flow of cooling air in an enclosure, by fitting a small hard disk drive to a caddy and limiting the flow of cooling air in a space produced within the caddy. SOLUTION: Hard disk drives 20a and 20b are vertical standing types in which the rotary axis of their recording disk extends in a horizontal direction. When a small hard disk drive 20b is to be fitted in a caddy 21, a differential space is provided. A flow rate limiting member 27 is made slightly larger in size in a horizontal direction than in the differential space, and when it is fitted in the caddy 21, a clearance 28 is formed between the flow rate limiting part 27 and a small hard disk drive 20b. The flow rate limiting member 27 is fixed to the upper plate and lower plate of the caddy 21 with screws at two places thereof respectively. Thus, while a cooling air flows in the caddy 21, it also enters the clearance 28 to cool the hard disk drive 20b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention requires cooling of a hard disk drive and other electronic components disposed in a housing, and the hard disk drive is attached to a caddy and can be inserted into and removed from the housing. In electronic devices in which hard disk drives of different sizes can be attached to the caddy, a predetermined flow of cooling air is ensured regardless of the size of the hard disk drive attached to the caddy. The present invention relates to a technique for sufficiently cooling a hard disk drive and other electronic components.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hard disk drives and electronic components housed in the housing of electronic equipment generate heat and need to be cooled.

For example, data including video data is recorded on a plurality of non-linearly accessible recording media, the recorded data is subjected to predetermined processing such as editing, and then data including video data is transmitted. There is a multi-video server device that can input and output. This multi-video server device is actually used in a broadcasting station or the like to store and transmit (broadcast) video data and audio data used in news programs and commercials (CM).
Furthermore, it is used for transmitting (broadcasting) a movie or video for home viewing called video on demand (VOD) or near video on demand (NVOD).

As shown in FIG. 5, a multi-video server device a having a plurality of hard disk drives as a non-linearly accessible recording medium includes two power supply units c and c and a plurality of hard disk drive devices d and d in a housing b. d, a circuit board e for controlling these,
, etc. are provided. Although FIG. 5 shows a conventional multi-video server device a, it is also used in an embodiment according to the present invention described later. Here's what. The case b is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 12, four cooling fans f, f,... Are arranged on the front right side of the space inside the case b so as to line up, down, left, and right. Are provided, and a large number of exhaust holes g, g,... Are formed in a portion of the housing b corresponding to the cooling fans f, f,. Then, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, when the cooling fans f, f,... Are driven, the air inside the casing b is discharged to the outside through the exhaust holes g, g,. When the internal pressure decreases, outside air flows into the housing b from the front side, and an air flow as described later occurs in the housing b,
This serves as cooling air to cool the power supply units c, c, the hard disk drive devices d, d,... And the various circuit boards e, e,.

The two power supply units c, c are respectively housed in a rectangular parallelepiped frame, and are arranged in the front half of the housing b and on the upper side so as to be arranged side by side. Further, the power supply units c and c are provided so as to be separately insertable and removable from the front of the housing b, and when inserted into the housing b, the power supply units c and c are electrically connected to the connector of the circuit board e disposed therein. Connection is made.

The hard disk drive d has a hard disk drive h in which a recording disk (not shown) is housed in a case body, which is detachably attached to a frame-shaped caddy i one size larger than this. (See FIG. 15), the caddy i is disposed so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the housing b.

There are a total of eight hard disk drives d, which are the first half and lower part of the housing b, ie,
The power supply units c are arranged below the power supply units c so as to be arranged in the left-right direction. Also, these hard disk drives d, d,... Can be inserted into and removed from the housing b from the front, and when inserted into the housing b, each hard disk drive h, h,. Each is electrically connected to a connector arranged in the housing b.

The hard disk drive h has a rotation axis of the recording disk extending in the left-right direction, and is so-called vertically placed. The hard disk drive h is fixed to the upper plate and the lower plate of the caddy i by screws at two places respectively.

The front plate of the caddy i has a number of small holes j,
are formed so that when outside air flows into the housing b, the cooling air hits the hard disk drive h in the caddy i as described later.

The circuit boards e, e,... Are horizontally arranged in the rear half of the housing b (horizontally arranged circuit boards).
.., e ₁ , e ₁ ,..., and a vertically arranged circuit board (vertically arranged circuit board) e _{2, which} is arranged substantially at the center in the front-rear direction of the housing b so as to partition the internal space of the housing b back and forth. Yes, gaps k _r and k _l are formed between the left and right side edges of the vertically arranged circuit board e ₂ and the housing b, respectively. Of the gaps k and k, the left gap k _l is the right side. It is formed larger than the gap k _r .

By the driving of the cooling fans f, f,..., Cooling air flows in the housing b, and the power supply units c, c as electronic components, the hard disk drives h, h,
, And the circuit boards e, e, ... are cooled.

The flow path of the cooling air is as shown in FIG.
When the pressure in the housing b decreases, the front of the housing b, that is, the power supply units c, c and the hard disk drive devices d, d,
······························································ From the front side, the outside air flows into the housing b, and the power supply units c and c and the hard disk drives d, d,
... through between the strikes the vertical arrangement the circuit board e _2.

When outside air flows into the housing b from the lower portion of the front surface of the housing b, that is, the portion where the hard disk drives d, d,.
The outside air flows from the small holes j, j,... Of the front plate of... Which collide with the hard disk drives h, h,. Will be.

The air that collides with the vertically arranged circuit board e ₂ is:
Divided into left and right, horizontally arranged circuit boards e ₁ , e ₁ , ...
・ It flows into the side. At this time, since towards the left of the gap k _l vertical arrangement circuit board e ₂ is greater than the right air gap k _r, flows more air through the left side of the gap k _l.

The air flowing into the rear side of the housing b from the left air gap k _l passes between the horizontally arranged circuit boards e ₁ , e ₁ ,... And is cooled by the cooling fans f, f,. Is discharged outside the housing b. On the other hand, the air flowing into the rear side of the housing b from the right space k _r is drawn directly into the cooling fans f, f,... And discharged out of the housing b.

As described above, each electronic component (power supply units c, c, hard disk drives h, h,.
.. and circuit boards e, e,...) Flow cooling air, and the flow paths thereof are designed to secure a flow rate necessary for cooling each electronic component.

[0018]

Incidentally, in such a multi-video server apparatus a, the size of the hard disk drive used in the multi-video server apparatus a depends on the size of the storage capacity or the level of the recording density.
In particular, those having different thicknesses may be used. this is,
For example, when trying to reduce the total capacity, rather than reducing the number of hard disk drives,
It is advantageous from the viewpoint of the transfer rate to replace the capacity of each hard disk drive with a smaller one and keep the number of hard disk drives unchanged. For such a reason, in the multi-video server apparatus a, there is a case where a hard disk drive having a different size is changed or such a hard disk drive is used in a mixed manner.

For example, when two types of hard disk drives h ₁ and h ₂ having different thicknesses are used, the caddy i is larger than the larger hard disk drive h _1.
Larger is used slightly larger than, and is capable also hard drive h ₂ smaller attaching.

Which of the two types of hard disk drives h ₁ and h _{2 having} different sizes is used for the multi-video server device a is determined by the user's selection.
For example, all the hard disk drives h, h, ...
· The larger one h ₁ , h ₁ ,... Or the smaller one h ₂ ,
h ₂ ,.. or two types of hard disk drives h, h,.
Each caddy i is attached, and this is arranged in the housing b.

[0021] However, when arranging the small hard drive h ₂ and attached to the housing b caddy i, large compared to the case where the hard disk drive h ₁ has been attached, both the hard disk drive h in caddy i A space 1 corresponding to the difference between the volumes of ₁ and h ₂ is created (see FIG. 16), and the balance of the cooling air flowing in the housing b is lost, and other electronic components, such as the power supply units c and c in this conventional example, and a large hard disk drive h ₁ cooling there is a problem that becomes insufficient.

That is, since the flow of the cooling air is generated more in the portion having a small resistance, the space l formed in the caddy i
, The flow rate of the cooling air flowing to other parts decreases accordingly, and the cooling air required for the power supply units c, c and the large hard disk drives h ₁ , h ₁ ,... Does not flow (FIGS. 17 and 18).
reference).

Therefore, the present invention sufficiently cools various electronic components and / or a large hard disk drive without disturbing the balance of the flow of cooling air in the housing even when a small hard disk drive is attached to the caddy. The task is to be able to do this.

[0024]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the electronic device of the present invention has a small hard disk drive attached to a caddy to restrict the flow of cooling air to a space created in the caddy. The flow restricting member to be mounted is attached.

Therefore, in the electronic apparatus of the present invention, when a small hard disk drive is attached to a caddy and arranged in a housing, even if cooling air flows into a space formed in the caddy, the flow rate is restricted. The flow of the cooling air is restricted by the members, and the flow of cooling air can be secured almost the same as when a large hard disk drive is attached to the caddy. Sufficient cooling of components and / or large hard disk drives can be achieved.

[0026]

1 to 4 conceptually show the basic structure of an electronic apparatus according to the present invention.

The electronic apparatus 1 includes a housing 2, hard disk drives 3, 3 that are removably inserted into and removed from the housing 2, and a cooling device for generating a flow of cooling air in the housing 2. And a fan 4 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

The housing 2 has an insertion / removal opening 5 for allowing the hard disk drives 3 and 3 to be inserted and removed, and a discharge opening 6 for discharging air in the housing 2 to the outside by the cooling fan 4. , And an intake opening 7 for allowing outside air to flow into the housing 2. In this embodiment, the opening 5 for insertion and removal also serves as the opening 7 for intake. However, the electronic device 1 of the present invention is not limited to this, and the openings 5 and 7 are separately provided. It may be formed.

The hard disk drive 3 has a hard disk drive 8 in which a recording disk (not shown) is housed in a case body, which is detachably attached to a frame-shaped caddy 9 one size larger than this. (See FIG. 3), the caddy 9 is disposed so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the housing 2. 3 and 4 show the hard disk drive 3 in the electronic component 1 according to the embodiment.
This is also used in an embodiment according to the present invention to be described later, and the reference numerals in parentheses indicate the reference numerals in the embodiment.

The reason why the hard disk drive device 3 can be inserted into and removed from the housing 2 is that the hard disk drive 8
Some have different sizes, for example, the size in the thickness direction of the recording disk, due to the difference in the recording density or the recording capacity, and the like. This is so that it can be used.

Then, by removing the caddy 9 from the housing 2, the hard disk drive 8 attached to the caddy 9 can be replaced with another hard disk drive 8 having a different recording density or storage capacity.

The caddy 9 has various sizes, for example, hard disk drives 8a having different sizes in the thickness direction.
In order to be able to mount the hard disk drive 8b, the hard disk drive 8a is formed one size larger than the largest hard disk drive 8a. The hard disk drives 8a and 8b are arranged so that the rotation axis of the recording disk extends in the left-right direction, that is, in a so-called vertical position, and are fixed to the upper plate and the lower plate of the caddy 9 by screws at two places respectively (see FIG. 4).

The attachment of the hard disk drives 8a and 8b to the caddy 9 is not limited to the screwing, but may be an engagement between an engaging claw and an engaging hole. What is necessary is just to be detachably attached to.

The front plate of the caddy 9 has many small holes 1.
.. Are formed, and as will be described later, the housing 2
When outside air flows into the caddy, the cooling air hits the hard disk drive 8a or 8b in the caddy 9. The small hole 10 is not limited to a circular hole, but may be a long hole,
Needless to say, a slit shape or the like may be used.

When the hard disk drive 8b having a smaller thickness is mounted on the caddy 9, the space 11 formed by the hard disk drive 8b, that is, the space corresponding to the difference in volume between the large hard disk drive 8a and the small hard disk drive 8b ( Hereinafter, this will be referred to as “difference space”) (see FIG. 4).

Then, the flow rate limiting member 12 having substantially the same size as the difference space 11 is attached to the caddy 9 together with the small hard disk drive 8b. This allows
The flow rate limiting member 12 is located in the difference space 11. Some hard disk drives have different recording disk diameters. When a hard disk drive with a small recording disk diameter is attached to the caddy 9, a space is also created in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the recording disk. However, the space may be filled with a flow rate limiting member.

The flow rate limiting member 12 may be of any type as long as it fills the difference space 11, and its material is not limited.
Further, it may be a hollow case-shaped member or a solid block-shaped member.

The size of the flow restricting member 12 is preferably a size corresponding to the difference in volume between the large hard disk drive 8a and the small hard disk drive 8b. Case 2
It is only necessary that the balance of the entire flow that flows through the inside is not greatly disrupted. In short, it is only necessary to provide necessary cooling for each of the hard disk drives 8, 8 and other electronic components.

The cooling fan 4 is located inside the housing 2 and
Are disposed so as to face the discharge openings 6, 6,.... When the cooling fan 4 is driven, the air in the housing 2 is discharged out of the housing 2 through the discharge openings 6, 6,..., And the pressure in the housing 2 decreases. Outside air flows in from the intake opening 7 and an air flow is generated in the housing 2.

Although the cooling fan 4 is provided inside the housing 2, it may be provided outside the housing 2. Also,
The cooling fan 4 is arranged so as to face the exhaust openings 6, 6,... And discharges the air in the housing 2 by driving the cooling fan 4, but the present invention is not limited to this. 4
May be disposed so as to face the intake opening 7, and the outside air may be sent into the housing 2 by the drive.

When the large hard disk drives 8a, 8a are attached to the caddies 9, 9, respectively, the flow of air generated in the housing 2 is reduced by the small holes 10, 10 of the caddies 9, 9. , Flows into the caddies 9, 9 and collides with the hard disk drives 8a, 8a, and flows between the hard disk drives 8a, 8a or between the hard disk drive 8a and the inner surface of the housing 2, and The drives 8a, 8a are cooled (see FIG. 1). Note that, in the drawing, arrows indicate the flow of air.

When a small hard disk drive 8b is attached to one of the caddies 9, 9, the flow restricting member 12 is connected to the hard disk drive 8b.
Attach to caddy 9 side by side with b. Thus, the flow restricting member 12 is filled in the caddy 9 to which the small hard disk drive 8b is attached so as to fill the difference space 11.
, The difference space 11 is not generated (see FIG. 2).

In such a case, the flow of air generated in the casing 2 flows into the caddies 9, 9 from the small holes 10, 10,... Of the caddies 9, 9, and flows into the hard disk drives 8a, 8b. After the collision, the hard disk drives 8a and 8b or the hard disk drives 8a and 8b flow between the flow restricting member 12 and the inner surface of the housing 2 to cool the hard disk drives 8a and 8b.

Then, the small hard disk drive 8
Even if the air flowing through the caddy 9 on the side where b is attached tries to flow in the differential space 11, the flow is restricted by the flow rate limiting member 12, and the flow of the cooling air in the housing 2 is The state when the large hard disk drive 8 is attached to the caddy 9 is kept almost the same (see FIG. 2).

Here, the restriction of the flow of the cooling air by the flow restricting member 11 means mainly the interruption of the flow of the cooling air. Including the case where it is permitted. In order to allow a certain amount of flow, for example, it is conceivable to form the flow rate limiting member 11 smaller than the difference space 11 or to provide a gap between the flow rate limiting member 11 and the small hard disk drive 8b. The point is that the flow rate of the cooling air enough to cool the other hard disk drive 8 or other electronic components inserted into the housing 2 may be ensured.

Further, in order to provide the flow rate limiting member 11 in the caddy 9, it may be attached directly to the caddy 9 or may be attached to the small hard disk drive 8b. In short, when the caddy 9 is removed from the housing 2,
It is only necessary that the flow restricting member 11 can be detached from the housing 2 together with the hard disk drive 8.

In this embodiment, the electronic apparatus 1 having the two hard disk drives 3 and 3 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, there may be more than one.
This is because, even when there is one hard disk drive device 3, it is necessary to ensure the balance of the flow of cooling air for cooling other electronic components in the housing 2. That is, when the balance of the cooling air flowing in the housing 2 is lost between the case where the large hard disk drive 8a is used and the case where the small hard disk drive 8b is used,
This is because the cooling effect on other electronic components may be affected.

[0048]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the electronic apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the present invention is applied to a multi-video server device. The multi-video server device is an electronic device used for actually broadcasting data including video data used in a news program and a commercial (CM) from a broadcasting station or the like.

As shown in FIG. 5, a multi-video server device 13 includes two power supply units 15, 1 in a housing 14.
5 and a plurality of hard disk drive devices 16, 16,.
.. and circuit boards 17, 17,...
18, 19, 19,... The housing 14
Is shown in FIG.

The hard disk drive 16 has a hard disk drive 20 in which a recording disk (not shown) is housed in a case body, which is detachably attached to a frame-shaped caddy 21 which is slightly larger than this. (See FIG. 3 and FIG. 4), the caddy 21 is disposed so as to be insertable into and removable from the housing 14.

As shown in FIG. 6, the housing 14 has an open front surface, and four cooling fans 22, 22,... (See FIG. 5), the cooling fans 22, 22,.
Are formed in a portion of the housing 14 corresponding to.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9,
When the cooling fans 22, 22,...
The internal air is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust holes 23, 23,..., And the pressure in the housing 14 is reduced.
Outside air flows into the inside from the front side, and an air flow as described later is generated in the housing 14, and this becomes cooling air, which becomes the power supply units 15, 15, and the hard disk drive 2.
0, 20,..., Various circuit boards 17, 17,.
Electronic components such as 18, 19, 19,... Are cooled.

The front half of the internal space of the housing 14 is
The power supply unit is divided into a part 24 and a lower ／ part 25 (see FIG. 6), and an upper space (hereinafter referred to as a “power supply unit installation space”) 24 has two power supply units. 1
5, 15 are arranged side by side,
Each of the power supply units 15 and 15 is separately removably inserted from the front side of the housing 14.

A space 25 below the power supply unit installation space 24 (hereinafter referred to as a "hard disk installation space").
Has eight hard disk drive units 16, 16,
Are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, and each hard disk drive device 16, 16,.
Are arranged so as to be separately insertable and removable from the front side of the housing 14.

The power supply unit 15 is housed in a case slightly smaller than the size of the power supply unit installation space 24 halved in the left-right direction, and the case is formed with cooling fins. The cooling effect is increased. The power supply unit 15
When the power supply unit 15 is inserted into the power supply unit installation space 24, the power supply unit 15
It is designed to be electrically connected to.

Such a multi-video server device 13
There are two power supply units 15 and 15 in order to ensure power supply redundancy. That is, not only the multi-video server device 13 but also electronic devices have a relatively short life of a power supply unit among electronic components, and only one power supply unit 15 supplies a necessary amount of electricity in the multi-video server device 13. In this case, when the power supply unit 15 stops functioning, the multi video server device 13 goes down. In order to avoid such a situation, the two power supply units 15 are used, and even if one of the power supply units 15 stops functioning, the multi-video server device 13 is connected to the other power supply unit 15 at least while the power supply unit 15 is replaced. Each power supply unit 1 can be operated without being down, and the load on each power supply unit 15 is reduced.
5 can be extended.

The caddy 21 of the hard disk drive 16 has a frontal shape having a size in which the hard disk space 25 is divided into approximately eight equal parts in the left-right direction, and the front-rear direction is approximately half the size of the hard disk space 25. The caddy 21 is formed with a bent piece that is bent inward (not shown) at the periphery of the left side surface of the caddy 21, whereby the caddy 21 is reinforced and the hard disk drive 20 is formed. Is attached to and detached from the caddy 21 from the right side thereof.

A hard disk drive interface board 19 is provided in the rear half of the hard disk installation space 25 at a position corresponding to each hard disk drive 16. When inserted into
The hard disk drive 16 is connected to the hard disk drive interface board 19.

The connection between the hard disk drive unit 16 and the hard disk drive interface board 19 is
9 (not shown) and a connector attached to the caddy 21 (not shown).
And the hard disk drive 20 is connected to the connector on the caddy 21 side by a lead wire or a flexible printed circuit board.

If the hard disk drive 20 and the hard disk drive interface board 19 are connected via the lead wires or the flexible printed circuit board as described above, even if the shape of the connector provided on the hard disk drive 20 is changed, Caddy 2
1 can be dealt with only by changing the shape of the connector provided in the hard disk drive 20.

The hard disk drive 20 has a large size 20a due to a difference in its recording density or recording capacity.
And the small hard disk drive 20b.
The size (thickness) of the recording disk in the thickness direction is almost twice as large, and the caddy 21 is formed to be slightly larger than the large hard disk drive 20a (see FIG. 3).

Thus, the small hard disk drive 20b can be detachably attached to the caddy 21.
b is attached to the caddy 21, the large hard disk drive 20a and the small hard disk drive 20b
A space (difference space) 26 corresponding to the volume difference between the caddy 21 and the caddy 21 is formed (see FIG. 4).

Such a hard disk drive 20
Reference numerals a and 20b denote a direction in which the rotation axis of the recording disk extends in the left-right direction, that is, a so-called vertical position, and the caddy 2a.
It is fixed to the upper plate and the lower plate by two screws each at two places.

When a small hard disk drive 20b is attached to the caddy 21, a flow rate limiting member 27 is provided in the difference space 26 (see FIG. 4). Flow rate limiting member 2
7 has a size slightly smaller in the left-right direction than the difference space 26. When this is attached to the caddy 21, a gap 28 is formed between the flow rate limiting member 27 and the small hard disk drive 20b. Then, the caddy 21 is fixed to the upper plate and the lower plate with screws at two locations. Thus, when cooling air, which will be described later, flows through the caddy 21, the cooling air also flows through the gap 28 to cool the hard disk drive 20b (see FIGS. 9 and 10).

In order to change the recording capacity of the multi-video server device 13, the hard disk drive device 16 is detached from the housing 14, and the caddy 21 is attached to the hard disk drive 20a or 20a.
0b, remove the other hard disk drive 20b
Or, 20a is attached, and the caddy 21 is attached to the inside of the housing 14 again. By doing so, the recording capacity of the multi-video server device 13 can be changed relatively easily.

The front plate of the caddy 21 has many small holes 2
Are formed, and as will be described later, the housing 1
When outside air flows into the hard disk drive 4, the cooling air is applied to the hard disk drive 20a or 20b in the caddy 21 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

The circuit boards 17, 17,...
A system control board, an interface board, a decode board, an encode board, and the like are arranged horizontally in the rear half of the housing 14 and vertically spaced apart from each other.

The circuit board 18 is, for example, a main bus board or the like, and is vertically arranged substantially at the center in the front-back direction of the housing 14 so as to partition the internal space of the housing 14 back and forth. Voids 30 _r and 30 _l are formed between both side edges and the housing 14, respectively, and among the voids 30 and 30, the left void 30 _l is formed larger than the right void 30 _r . (See FIGS. 7, 8, and 9).

The cooling fans 22, 22,... Constitute one fan unit by being disposed in front and rear, and these fan units can be inserted and removed from the rear side of the housing 14, When one cooling fan 22 stops functioning, a fan unit including the cooling fan 22 can be easily replaced.

The housing 14 has an upper front panel 31 covering the front opening of the power supply unit installation space 24 and a lower front panel 32 covering the front opening of the hard disk installation space 25. It is rotatably provided on the left edge of the opening edge (see FIG. 6).

The upper front panel 31 includes a front display panel 33.
And a cover member 34 on the rear side. The display plate 33 and the cover plate 34 are connected at substantially the center in the vertical direction, and have a flat cross section. It has an H shape, and gaps 35, 35 extending in the left-right direction are formed between the upper and lower halves of the two (see FIGS. 6 and 11).

On the front surface of the display panel 33, various operation buttons and a display section of the multi-video server device 13 are provided. The cover plate 34 has a large number of small holes 3.
Are formed, and these small holes 36,
36,.. Function as intake holes for sucking outside air when the pressure in the housing 14 is reduced, and the outside air enters through the gaps 35, 35 between the display plate 33 and the cover plate 34, and the intake holes 36,. 3
., And flows into the housing 14 through. In addition, the cover plate 3
If a filter is provided at a portion corresponding to the intake holes 36, 36, 4, the air flowing into the housing 14 can be purified.

The lower front panel 32, like the upper front panel 31, has a doubly arranged plate-like member, and its front front plate 37 and rear rear plate 38 are vertically The gaps 39, 39 extending in the left-right direction are formed between the upper half portion and the lower half portion of the upper and lower halves, being connected at substantially the center in the direction and having a flat cross-sectional shape. 6, see FIG. 11).

Also, a large number of small holes 40, 40,... Are formed in the rear plate 38 similarly to the lid plate 34, and these small holes 40, 40,. Functions as an intake hole for sucking outside air when the pressure of the air decreases, the outside air enters through gaps 39, 39 between the front plate 37 and the rear plate 38, and enters the housing 14 through the intake holes 40, 40,. Flows into. If a filter is provided in a portion of the rear plate 38 corresponding to the intake holes 40, 40, ..., the air flowing into the housing 14 can be purified.

When the power supply unit 15 or the hard disk drive device 16 is inserted into and removed from the housing 14, the upper front panel 31 or the lower front panel 32 is rotated to rotate the power supply unit installation space 24 or the hard disk installation space 2.
5 is performed with the front surface opened.

The two power supply units 15, 15
And eight hard disk drive units 16, 16,.
When the cooling fans 22, 22,... Are driven with the... Mounted in the housing 14, the air in the housing 14 is discharged out of the housing 14 through the discharge holes 23, 23,. When the pressure in the housing 14 is reduced, the air intake holes 36, 36,.
The outside air flows from the intake holes 40, 40,... Of the lower front panel 32, and the following air flow occurs in the housing 14.

First, the flow of air flowing from the upper side of the housing 14, that is, from the upper front panel 31, will be described.

When the pressure in the casing 14 decreases, the intake holes 36, 3 through the gaps 35, 35 in the upper front panel 31.
.., The outside air flows into the housing 14 from the power supply units 15 and 15 and between the power supply units 15 and 15 and the inner surface of the housing 14, and the circuit board 18 through the left and right gaps 30 _r, 30 _l around the second half of the housing 14, the circuit board 17, during the., and the circuit board 17, the ... and the housing 14 Are discharged out of the housing 14 by the cooling fans 22, 22,... (See FIG. 7).

At this time, the power supply unit 15 and the circuit board 1
7, 17, ..., 18 will be cooled. Also,
The cooling air flowing through the left and right gaps 30 _r and 30 _l of the circuit board 18 is larger in the left gap 30 _l than the circuit boards 17 and 1.
The flow from the left to the right increases for 7, ...
Therefore, it is effective in cooling the circuit boards 17, 17,... If the left air gap 30 _l is too wide, the flow velocity of the cooling air passing through the air gap 30 _l becomes slow, and the circuit board 1
Only the fronts of 7, 17,... Are cooled.
Therefore, the width of the left gap 30 _l is larger than that of the circuit board 17, 1.
7,... It is preferable to make the area large enough to allow the cooling air to reach the rear side.

If the space 30 _r on the right side is too narrow, the amount of cooling air flowing to the right side of the circuit board 18 will be reduced.
In the first half of the above, too, it is expected that the air flowing on the left side will increase and the cooling of the right power supply unit 15 will be insufficient, so that the width of the two gaps 30 _l and 30 _r is as described above. It is preferable to determine in consideration of this.

Next, the flow of the air flowing in from the lower side of the housing 14, that is, from the lower front panel 32 will be described.
Such an air flow is generated by the hard disk drives 20, 2
.. Are different between the case where the hard disk drive 20a is the large one 20a and the case where the small hard disk drive 20b is the small one 20b. First, the case where all the eight hard disk drives 20, 20,. 8).

The air flowing into the housing 14 from the intake holes 40, 40,... Through the gaps 39, 39 of the lower front panel 32 is supplied to the hard disk drive devices 16, 16,.
.. a small hole 29 formed between the housing 14 and the front plate of the caddy 21 of the hard disk drive 16;
, Flows into the caddy 21 and flows between the hard disk drives 20a, 20a,..., And between the circuit boards 19, 19,. After passing through the gaps 30 _r , 30 _l on the left and right sides of the board 18 to the rear half of the housing 14, the circuit boards 17, 17,.
.. between the circuit boards 17, 17,... And the housing 14
Are discharged out of the housing 14 by the cooling fans 22, 22,.

The hard disk drives 16, 16,
Since the air flowing through the caddies 21, 21,... Has the same space between the hard disk drives 20a, 20a,. .. Can be uniformly cooled. The air flow ratio in the first half (the power supply unit installation space 24 and the hard disk installation space 25) in the housing 14 is a large 20a in which all the eight hard disk drives 20, 20,. In this case, the power supply units 15 and the hard disk drive 20a can be sufficiently cooled.

Next, the eight hard disk drives 2
A case where four hard disk drives 20b, 20b,... On the left side among 0, 20,. Small hard disk drive 2
When attaching 0b to the caddy 21, since the flow restricting member 27 is attached to the caddy 21 as described above,
The difference space 26 in the caddy 21 is almost filled, and
A gap 28 is formed between the hard disk drive 20b and the flow restricting member 27 (see FIGS. 9 and 10).

When the cooling air flows into the caddy 21 to which the small hard disk drive 20b is attached, the air gap 28, the space between the hard disk drive 20b and the flow rate limiting member 27 of the adjacent hard disk drive 16, and the flow rate limiting member 27 And the hard disk drive 20b or 2 of the adjacent hard disk drive 16
0a, cooling air flows to cool the hard disk drives 20b and 20a.

Then, the small hard disk drive 2
The air that is going to flow through the difference space 26 of the caddy 21 to which 0b is attached is restricted by the flow rate restricting member 27, so that no cooling air flows to that part, and all the hard disk drive devices 16, 16, .. Are provided with large hard disk drives 20a, 20a,.

The circuit boards 17, 17,..., 1
The cooling of 8, 19, 19,... Is almost the same as the flow of the cooling air after cooling the power supply units 15, 15.

In the above embodiment, the electronic apparatus of the present invention is applied to a multi-video server apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the electronic apparatus having electronic components which can be inserted into and removed from a housing. If so, it can be applied.

[0090]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, by attaching a small hard disk drive to the caddy, the space (difference space) generated in the caddy is reduced. Since the flow restricting member that restricts the flow of cooling air is provided detachably, even when a small hard disk drive is attached to the caddy, it is possible to restrict the flow of cooling air that flows into the differential space, Regardless of the size of the hard disk drive to be installed, cooling of the hard disk drive and / or other electronic components can be performed as designed without breaking the flow balance of the cooling air in the entire enclosure. Accordingly, the capacity of the cooling fan can be optimized.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since a gap is provided between the hard disk drive attached to the caddy and the flow restricting member, the flow of cooling air along both side surfaces of the hard disk drive is provided. Therefore, the cooling efficiency of the hard disk drive can be increased.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, when a small hard disk drive and a flow rate restricting member are attached to a caddy, the flow rate of cooling air flowing through the caddy can be increased. The same cooling air flow can be obtained regardless of the size of the hard disk drive. As a result, the flow of the cooling air as designed can be ensured, so that the size and the like of the cooling fan can be optimized.

According to the invention described in claims 5 to 8, since a plurality of hard disk drives are provided, it is possible to easily change the entire storage capacity of an electronic device having a hard disk drive. In addition, the hard disk drive and other electronic components can be cooled regardless of the storage capacity, without breaking the balance of the flow of the cooling air in the housing.

The specific shapes and structures of the respective parts shown in the above-described embodiments are merely examples of the embodiment of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Should not be interpreted restrictively.

The present invention relates to an electronic device having a hard disk drive. However, the present invention is not limited to a hard disk drive, and is provided so as to be detachable from a housing of the electronic device via a caddy. The present invention can also be applied to an electronic component that requires an electronic device, for example, an electronic device including an IC memory.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually showing a basic configuration of an electronic device according to the present invention, together with FIGS. 2 to 4, which shows a state in which two large hard disk drives are used and a housing is removed. It is a top view.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a large hard disk drive and a small hard disk drive are used and a case is removed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a large hard disk drive is attached to a caddy.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a small hard disk drive is attached to a caddy and a flow restricting member is removed.

5 is a diagram for explaining an example of an embodiment of the electronic apparatus according to the present invention, together with FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 to 11;
This figure is a perspective view showing the hard disk drive and electronic components only with the housing removed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the housing with the front panel opened.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state where two power supply units are mounted and a housing is removed.

FIG. 8 uses eight large hard disk drives,
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state where a housing and a power supply unit are removed.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state where four small hard disk drives and four large hard disk drives are used, and a case and a power supply unit are removed.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view showing a part of a state where a large hard disk drive and a small hard disk drive are used.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing a state where a power supply unit and a hard disk drive are mounted and a housing is removed.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a conventional electronic device together with FIG. 5 and FIGS. 13 to 18, and FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a housing.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a state where eight large hard disk drives are mounted and a housing is removed.

FIG. 14 is a side view in the same state as FIG.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a state in which a large hard disk drive is attached to a caddy.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a state in which a small hard disk drive is attached to a caddy.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a state in which four small hard disk drives and four large hard disk drives are used, and a case and a power supply unit are removed.

FIG. 18 is a side view in the same state as FIG.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Electronic equipment, 2 ... Housing, 3 ... Hard disk drive device, 4 ... Cooling fan, 8 ... Hard disk drive,
8a: Large hard disk drive, 8b: Small hard disk drive, 9: Caddy, 11: Differential space, 12: Flow rate limiting member, 13: Multi-video server device (electronic device), 14: Housing, 16: Hard disk drive device, 20 ... Hard disk drive, 20a
... Large hard disk drive, 20b ... Small hard disk drive, 21 ... Caddy, 22 ... Cooling fan, 26 ... Differential space, 27 ... Flow rate limiting member, 28 ... Void

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An electronic apparatus comprising: a hard disk drive which is removably inserted into a housing via a caddy; and a cooling fan for generating a predetermined flow of cooling air in the housing. There are various sizes of hard disk drives attached to the caddy. By attaching a small hard disk drive to the caddy, a flow restricting member for limiting a flow of cooling air to a space generated in the caddy. An electronic device characterized in that the device is detachably provided. 2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a small hard disk drive is attached to the caddy, a gap is provided between the hard disk drive and the flow rate limiting member in the caddy. . 3. When a small hard disk drive and a flow restricting member are attached to a caddy, the flow rate of cooling air flowing through the caddy is made equal to that when a large hard disk drive is attached to the caddy. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. When a small hard disk drive and a flow restricting member are attached to a caddy, the flow rate of cooling air flowing into the caddy is made the same as when a large hard disk drive is attached to the caddy. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein: 5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of hard disk drive devices. 6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a plurality of hard disk drive devices. 7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a plurality of hard disk drive devices. 8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 4, comprising a plurality of hard disk drive devices.