WO2007062717A2

WO2007062717A2 - Blank panel for arranging in a sub-rack, in particular, in an atca-mounting rack

Info

Publication number: WO2007062717A2
Application number: PCT/EP2006/009887
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ronny Mees
Original assignee: Knürr AG
Priority date: 2005-11-29
Filing date: 2006-10-12
Publication date: 2007-06-07
Also published as: DE202005018661U1; WO2007062717A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a blank panel which is arranged in a mounting rack, comprising a front panel which is used to cover an opening on the front side of the mounting rack and a guide plate which is inserted into the mounting rack, which is arranged on the front panel in the direction of insertion. The invention also relates to an air partition plate which is used to close an air inlet below the insertion area of the blank panel and which is arranged on the base side of the guide plate. The inventive blank panel is also integrated into a management system of the mounting rack and comprises a FRU-data-module and a zone 1-connector. The invention further relates to a method for controlling the presence of said type of blank panels.

Description

Blanking plate for placement in a rack, especially in an ATCA rack

The invention relates to blanking plates for arrangement in a rack, in particular in an ATCA rack, according to the preamble of claim 1.

ATCA subracks are designed to deliver the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA), a technology for faster and more complex communications solutions, with at least 99.99% system availability. A high level of reliability or reliability is achieved, among other things, through redundancy. All key components are Field Replacable Units (FRU), which are system components that can be released and removed from the system.

Developed by the PICMG (PCI Industrial Computers Manufacturer Group), this standard features a scalable architecture and supports standardized and vendor-specific fabric interfaces.

A known ATCA rack (DE 20 2005 013 141 Ul) has a front receiving space for vertical, front insertable plug-in modules whose connectors are plugged into a backplane (backplane). In a rear receiving space, rear plug-in modules be arranged. To dissipate the heat loss, in particular the front plug-in modules ambient air is guided by fans through the receiving space. A control and monitoring system (shelf management) is provided for monitoring and controlling the modules or modules, for example the front and rear plug-in modules, the power input modules, the fan and air inlet temperature, and information is generated by means of an IPMB (Intelligent Platform Management Bus) transferred and stored in a FRU data module.

It is known to insert blind plates at unused or reserved plug-in or insertion slots of the front and / or rear receiving space of the rack. Known blank panels have a front panel for covering the front opening and a guide plate for insertion into a slot of the receiving space. As a rule, the front plate of the dummy plates is adapted to the front plates of the plug-in modules so that a uniform front design is ensured.

In addition, blanking plates are known which are provided with an air-shielding sheet. This air baffle plate closes the downwards open slot and thus achieves an efficient dissipation of the heat loss of the active plug-in modules.

A disadvantage is that it can not be ascertained without further ado whether a blind plate has an air baffle plate. It requires a review, which has previously been possible, for example, by an expansion of the blanking plate. Without checking the presence of an air bulkhead, optimum ventilation of the ATCA subrack is not guaranteed. The invention is based on the object, a dummy plate in such a way that at any time and extremely easy the presence or absence of air bulkheads in the rack, especially in an ATCA rack, can be checked and determined and thereby optimal ventilation of the rack is guaranteed.

According to the invention the object is achieved by the features of claim 1. Advantageous and advantageous embodiments are contained in the subclaims and in the description of the figures.

The invention is based on the idea to provide an intelligent blanking plate, which is equipped with a Luftschottblech. This intelligent blanking plate is additionally equipped with a Zone 1 connector and a relatively simple FRU data module in order to use the control and monitoring system of the ATCA subrack (shelf management) for the presence or absence of the dummy plate with, preferably interrogate or check integrated air baffle plate.

The intelligent blind plate or the intelligent blind panel can be designed in two variants. In a first variant, which advantageously for a front insertable into a front receiving space of the rack blanking plate with a front panel for covering an opening in the front of the rack, a guide plate for insertion into the rack and with an air scarf plate for closing an air inlet is provided below the insertion slot of the dummy plate, a zone 1 connector and a FRU data module are arranged on the dummy plate. Advantageously, the zone 1 connector for connection to the Rückverdrahungsplatine (backplane) is arranged in a rear region of the guide plate, wherein the guide plate expediently arranged longitudinally in the insertion direction on the front panel of the dummy plate and extends with the rear area almost to the back wiring board.

The air baffle plate closes on the bottom side and aligned horizontally on the guide plate and on the front panel, and the FRU data module is designed to store information about an existing or missing air baffle plate.

It is advantageous that the FRU data module is located in the back of the guide plate and connected to the Zone 1 connector.

In a second variant, it is also possible to check backside blanking plates with regard to the presence or absence of an air bulkhead sheet. The rear insertable blanking plate is then formed analogous to the front blanking plate as an intelligent blanking panel and preferably has an air baffle plate, which may for example be integrally formed on.

The rear blanking plate, which has a front plate for covering an opening of the rear side of the subrack, a guide plate in the insertion direction and a Luftschottblech for closing an air inlet below the slot in the rear receiving space is also provided with a FRU data module and has a zone. 3 - Connector, in particular in an upper rear portion of the guide plate. The Zone 3 connector directly connects the rear blanking plate to the front blanking plate and checks for the presence of the rear blanking panel with the airfoil and FRU data module mounted or integrated, with an electrical connection, in particular an I ² C (Inter IC bus ) is transmitted to the FRU Data Module and ensures connection to the rack management.

The advantage of the intelligent blanking plate according to the invention is the possibility of rapid and system-integrated monitoring and checking on the presence or absence of an air bulkhead sheet, which is advantageously integrated in the front or rear insertable blanking plate. By quickly and systemically conforming to the presence or absence of air bulkheads can be controlled, optimal ventilation of the rack is guaranteed. Warming probes inside the ATCA rack are avoided early, which helps to ensure the reliability and high reliability of this system. The intelligent blanking plates according to the invention thus provide a high-quality accessory to the ATCA system.

The invention will be further explained below with reference to a drawing; in this point in a highly schematic representation:

1 shows a side view of an ATCA subrack in the region of a blanking plate according to the invention;

2 shows a side view of an ATCA subrack in the region of a front and rear blanking plate according to the invention. The prior art will be explained with reference to Figures 3 and 4, wherein Fig. 3 is a side view of an ATCA Baugruppen- carrier with a front-side dummy plate 30 and a rear-side dummy plate 31 of the prior art and Fig. 4 shows a dummy plate according to line IV-IV Fig. 3 shows.

According to FIG. 3, the known blanking plate 30, which can be pushed into the front receiving space of an ATCA subrack 2 of the ATCA type, has a front plate 4, a guide plate 5 and an air baffle plate 8.

For the arrangement of the guide plate 5 and the air-bulkhead 8 on the front panel 4, which covers an opening in the front side 24 of the rack 2, reference is also made to FIG. 4.

The guide plate 5 is used for insertion into the rack 2 and is arranged in the insertion direction near a longitudinal side of the front panel 4 at this. From Fig. 3 it is apparent that the essentially extending over the height of the receiving space guide plate 5 extends with a rear area 6 almost to a back wiring board 7. The depth of the guide plate 5 and the front-side dummy plate 30 usually corresponds to the depth of the active plug-in modules (front panels) and can be for example 280 mm.

The air baffle plate 8, which serves for closing an air inlet below the insertion space (not shown) of the dummy plate 30, is arranged on the bottom side of the guide plate 5 and aligned horizontally.

Below the receiving space of the subrack 2 a Zulufträum 21 is formed for front side supplied cooling air. The cooling air, which is sucked in by fans (not shown) in a fan space 22 above the receiving space for the plug-in modules and dummy plates, dissipates the heat loss in a vertical flow between the plug-in modules. The heated exhaust air is discharged via rear openings (not shown) of the fan chamber 22 from the rack.

Due to the arrangement of the dummy plates 30 with air bulkheads 8, a cooling adapted to the requirements of the receiving space of the subrack 2 is possible. A rapid and system-integrated verification of the presence of an air-bulkhead 8 on a dummy plate 30 is not possible in the previously known dummy plates 30.

The intelligent dummy plates 3 according to the invention of FIGS. 1 and 2 make it possible to check the presence of an air-bulkhead plate 8 or the blank plate 3 provided with an air bulkhead 8 by arranging a FRU data module 11 and a zone 1 connector 10, with which the such formed dummy plate 3 can be included in the management system of the rack 2.

The FRU data module 11 is relatively simple and allows the storage of the information that the blanking plate 3 is provided with a Luftschottblech 8 for closing the respective air inlet. The Zone 1 connector, which is a power supply and system management connector 1, is disposed in a rear portion 6 of the guide plate 5 of the dummy plate 3 for connection to the back wiring board 7 and connected to the backplane 7 FRU Data Module 11 connected. In the first variant of an intelligent, frontally insertable blanking plate 3 shown in FIG. 1, a backside insertable blanking plate 31 is formed in a known manner and thus not included in the management system for checking an existing air bulkhead plate 18. The rear dummy panel 31 is analogous to a front panel dummy panel 30 of the prior art (see FIGS. 3 and 4) formed and provided with a front panel 14 for covering an opening in the back 25 of the rack 2, a guide plate 15 and a lower air bulkhead 18 , As a rule, these known rear blind plates 31 corresponding to the back boards (not shown) dimensioned and have, for example, a depth of 70 mm.

FIG. 2 shows, in a second variant of the inventive intelligent blind panels according to the invention, a blind plate 13 which can be pushed in at the rear and which is included in the monitoring system of the subrack 2. For this purpose, the guide plate 15 is provided in an upper area with a FRU data module 21, in which the information about an existing air baffle plate 18 is stored and which is connected to a zone 3 connector 20.

The zone 3 connector 20 in a rear region 16 of the guide plate 15 and the rear dummy plate 13 is directly connected to the front dummy plate 3 and the presence of the rear dummy plate 13 with integrated air baffle plate 18 and FRU data module 21 is connected via an I ² C-connection 22, which is present in the front-side blanking plate 3, fed to the FRU data module 11 of the front panel blank.

Claims

1. Blanking plate for arrangement in a rack, in particular in an ATCA rack, with a front plate (4) for covering an opening in a front side (24) of the rack (2), with a guide plate (5) for insertion into the rack ( 2), which is arranged in the direction of insertion on the front panel (4) and with a rear area (6) almost to a back wiring board (7) in the rack (2), and with a Luftschottblech (8) for closing an air inlet below the slot the blind plate (3), which is arranged on the bottom side and horizontally on the guide plate (5), characterized in that the blanking plate (3) for inclusion in a management system of the subrack (2) with a FRU data module (11) and with a Zone 1 connector (10) is provided.

2. blanking plate according to claim 1, characterized in that the zone 1 connector (10) for connection to the back wiring board (7) and connected to the FRU data module (11) is connected.

3. Blanking plate according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the FRU data module (11) is designed to store information on a dummy plate (3) arranged or missing air bulkhead plate (8).

4. Blanking plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that e e n e c e s e s that the FRU data module (11) in the rear region (6) of the guide plate (5) is arranged.

5. blanking plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a blanking plate (13) for insertion into a rear receiving space of the rack (2) is formed, which has a front panel (14) for covering an opening in the back (25) of the rack (2), a guide plate (15) which is arranged in the insertion direction on the front plate (14) and with a rear region (16) almost to the Rückwirnungungspla- tine (7), and an air baffle plate (18) for closing an air inlet below the slot of the rear blind plate (13), which is arranged on the bottom side and horizontally on the guide plate (15), and for inclusion in the management system of the subrack (2) with a FRU data module (21) and with a Zone 3 connector (20) is provided.

6. Blanking plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the zone 3 connector (20) and the Fru-Data module (21) on the guide plate (15) of the rear plate (13) are arranged.

7. Blanking plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that e e n e c e s e s that the FRU data module (21) for storing information on the dummy plate (13) arranged or missing air bulkhead plate (18) is formed.

8. blanking plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the zone 3 connector (20), which connects the rear blanking plate (13) and the front blanking plate (3) directly, with the FRU data module (11) of front blanking plate (3) via an I ² C connection (22) is connected.

9. A method for checking the presence and / or the status of a dummy plate, which is arranged in a rack having a front plate (4) for covering an opening in a front side (24) of the rack (2), a guide plate (5) for Insert in the rack (2), which is arranged in the direction of insertion on the front panel (4) and with a rear area (6) almost to a back wiring board (7) in the rack (2), and a Luftschottblech (8) for closing a Air inlet below the insertion slot of the blanking plate (3), which is arranged on the bottom side and horizontally on the guide plate (5), characterized in that by means of a FRU data module (11) and a zone-1 connector (10) information about the blanking plate (3) is queried.