Computer cabinet design

ES 2 209 348 T3

DESCRIPTION

Design of a computer case.

The present invention relates to boxed equipment cooling and, more particularly, to integrating box cooling into a raised floor or overhead cooling system.

It has been found that case cooling systems that are not integrated with a fault tolerant, simultaneously maintainable, and seamlessly expandable raised or raised floor cooling system design cannot reasonably control equipment overheating. The heat produced in some of the higher-tech systems exceeds the capacity of currently available systems, resulting in damage to high-tech computers and peripheral equipment.

Often times, expensive quality uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are installed, both for computer systems and fan-powered case cooling assemblies. Existing case cooling technologies waste available UPS power because there are no methods to vary the fan power as a percentage of the power required to cool the computer and other critical electronic equipment installed in the cases. Additionally, the normal box fan is not excessive and is sized to cool the maximum load projected for the box, even though the medium size box may contain only a fraction of the heat producing equipment that was considered for the selection of the box. fan.

A main problem arises in those systems that, at first, are sufficient to support the expected heat loads, but have to increase their cooling capacity without disturbing the installed equipment that produces heat. There are many industries that cannot easily accept equipment downtime to adjust for changes; such as, railway lines, production chain control systems, financial markets, flight reservation centers and the like.

Another problem is the industrial practice of providing cuts in a raised floor, which have been left open, with only a few square inches containing some cables or wires. The cooling air is evacuated from the raised floor, unhindered, through the excessive cable openings, resulting in a loss of air and static pressure that is necessary for cooling the elements or equipment in the room. box; air cooling is distributed from air ducts, and the problem is that the space is cooled, thus reducing the capacity of the refrigeration system.

In a large number of large installations, the boxes are placed side by side with no walls in between. The entire internal zone created in this way is treated in many respects as a single entity, resulting in large numbers of fans used in the array and critical energy wasted. In these installations, one fan, or perhaps two, are located on the top wall of the boxes and can be programmed at a fixed speed. A box with a large heat load may be positioned close to a box with a small heat load, and yet the fan associated with the latter box may be running at full speed. The usual procedure in such systems, because there are gaps between the boxes, is to run fans at a standard speed regardless of the load, which wastes a lot of critical energy. It should be noted, that power is supplied to the computer and at most 10% should be used for cooling. In this way, every effort should be made to conserve the energy used for cooling.

Previously envisioned installations require the raised floor tiles to be cut at a cost of about 100 / tile to fit the boxes and provide adequate support. Cutting the tiles, usually on the job, is time consuming and quite expensive. To date, no attempt has been made to provide suitable material to adapt the floor to the boxes or the boxes to the floor.

Large losses of cooling energy occur through the openings, through which cables and wires are introduced into the boxes. Improper use of masking or structural features to provide protection is the norm.

A major flaw with prior systems is that they do not allow the system to easily adjust in the field to the environment. Openings made in the field that were large enough for installers to work through, haul cables, etc., were extremely large for cooling. In many cases, the connections were made previously in the boxes and they were left without power supply, waiting for months to materialize the operational load, however, the openings left by the installers were not closed. Any air and all air that passed through these access openings under the floor wasted cooling capacity and static pressure. To a large extent, they failed to properly control the cooling capacity, static pressure, and to the extent controllable with very difficult procedures, which frequently required a box to be unloaded and tipped over to effect the control. The issues of wasted cooling capacity could not be resolved even if other critical systems were adversely affected, because the need for continuous data and telecommunications processing prevented any disruption to equipment operation in working boxes. It's almost impossible to safely upgrade existing boxes with connected processing load. This last procedure is related to the cooling capacity and pressure under tiled floors and to the need to ensure, once installed, that a minimum of cooling air is extracted from each box and produces a minimum pressure drop.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid the need to cut floor tiles to size to house the equipment boxes.

Another object of the invention is to use barriers between the boxes to avoid the interaction of the effects of refrigeration.

Another object of the invention is to provide equipment that enables convection cooling of components of a case to reduce or eliminate the need for critical electrical power to operate the case's cooling fans, or to use the

ES 2 209 348 T3 pressure cold air jet cooling or use both types of cooling simultaneously.

Another object of the invention is to provide elements within a box that avoid interference with the stream of cooling air from below the floor on which the boxes are located, and elements that prevent interface with the stream in or out of the top of a box.

Another object of the invention is to allow boxes having different energy charges to be placed side by side without causing a conflict in cooling capacity between adjoining boxes.

An object of the invention is to control the distribution of static pressure and cooling air from below the floor on which the box is located.

Another object of the invention is to be able to provide multiple fans installed where they are needed and control the operation of the fans, including disabling some or all of them to maintain a desired temperature.

Another object is to use fans that are small enough in size to allow multiple fans to fit into the top or bottom of a standard sized enclosure for adequate capacity control, limiting critical power use, but providing redundant operation of the system. fan.

Another object of the invention is to provide visual and / or audible indications of the conditions in a box.

Another object is to provide a network connection to control the cooling function of the case via a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or the Internet.

It is an object of the invention to prevent air leakage to be used in cooling around cables that conduct power or control signals.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a field method that adjusts the overhead cable openings so that a box can be empty without wasting cooling airflow or static pressure, when the overhead cables remain closed, while allowing singles field settings for wire and cable flow, once electronic equipment is installed in the box.

Another object of the invention is to limit the use of critical energy to what is actually necessary to maintain the temperature.

It is still another object of the invention to be able to accommodate widely different refrigeration consumptions in adjacent boxes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in the upper part of the case, housings for a plurality of panels that can house fans, they can be blind panels, they can be panels for connection to pressurized air cooling supplies or large systems of exhaust and highly perforated panels that allow easy air flow through them.

The box of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has a top surface that can accommodate multiple insertable panels that can be blind plates, heavily perforated tapes, variable aperture grommets, ducts for receiving cooling or exhaust air and / or fans. Multiple induction fans can be used and allow capacity to be incrementally paralleled to provide redundant fan operation as needed, while limiting UPS power. The bottom surface of the box is set on raised floor tiles in one embodiment over an opening and has multiple adjustable grommets to control the flow of cold air into the box as needed. The shelves inside the box are all heavily perforated, yet fabricated simultaneously for adequate structural support, so cool or ambient air can easily flow through the box and out of the top. The door and perhaps the back panel of the box may also have controlled perforated areas. A factory installed heavily perforated shelf is positioned spaced above the floor to prevent any equipment from getting under the shelf so that flow through the grommets is not impeded. Air duct cooling can also be envisaged, but with the degree of cooling required for boxes containing equipment that creates high temperatures, the space itself would be too cold for comfort. One solution for using air ducts for cooling is to direct the cold air through small distribution ducts, directly to the boxes.

The cooling mechanism used does not rely excessively on pressurized air from below the ground. The mechanism is based in most cases on the ambient air that reaches the case by convection and / or a fan or fans located in the upper part of the case. The box looks like a fireplace with both the convection currents and the fan inducing the air heated by the equipment to flow out of the top of the box. In many cases, the convection currents are sufficient to cool the equipment and the fan is used to interrupt the antagonistic configurations of the convection flow. The fan ensures that air flows around the entire equipment to carry away the heat. This feature is aided by heavily perforated shelves. If necessary, underfloor cooling air can be admitted into the box through grommets in the bottom of the box that control this flow. The flow of cold air under pressure to the box is limited to that necessary to affect the desired cooling so that the air conditioners supplying cold air under the floor are not overloaded and possibly burned out.

The natural draft effect of the boxes causes the heated air to rise high above the box so that hot air leaving one box does not flow around the air intake area of ​​adjacent boxes.

A sliding door damper is held in an open, partially open, or closed position by non-electrically conductive hardware made of nylon or other plastics, so that screws, clamps, pins, etc., become disconnected as a result of vibration or use of regulating electrical equipment, do not damage electrical equipment. In addition, the damper is fail-safe; that is, if the screws, pins, etc., that hold the regulator in a fully closed or partially open position, the regulator opens fully and the equipment will not overheat. Also, the hardware used is captive hardware, so only broken parts can fall into the box. Under normal circumstances, there are no loose parts. All the components of the physical system can be used from outside the box,

ES 2 209 348 T3 so that it is not necessary to insert the tools in the box, eliminating the danger of damaging the terminals or wires of the equipment by the tools. The box can be modified by adding or subtracting fans to the top of the box, inserting or removing panels on the door, or adjusting the sliding regulator on the door, all done outside of the hardware shelves of the box equipment.

The panels on the front of the case can be made from clear Plexiglass, so lights and other status indicators on the computers are visible through the perforations and behind the clear lock panel.

It is preferred that all six openings have factory installed fans and that temperature sensitive controls are employed to control the speed of the fans. Such an arrangement provides maximum flexibility along with the ability to handle maximum heat loads as well as minimal heat loads. If, for some reason, a customer does not want such an arrangement, then the blank panel or panels can be inserted into an unused opening in the top wall to prevent heated airflow in the space from flowing into the boxes. As noted elsewhere, if sufficient flow is induced into the box, then a perforated panel can be used in one of the slots. The type of flow can be induced by convection cooling, so a perforated panel can be used alone or in combination with carefully adjusted fans. Cold air can be added from the ground to increase the upward flow, if the heat is such that the cold air can be heated sufficiently by the equipment to add to the induced current from outside or is raised by fans over the top of the box .

A temperature control and alarm system suitable for use in such a system is sold by Weiss Industries, Farmingdale, New York. Such a system uses thermistors to detect the temperature of the network interface circuit, and includes a temperature display. Using this system allows all fans to be factory installed and speed controlled to maintain temperature.

A manually operated system can also be employed. Initially, all fans are set to desired operating temperatures in the case, and after a short period of time, they are readjusted to achieve the desired results. The temperatures in the boxes are relatively stable and the display discussed above will warn of any changes that need correction, which will be infrequent.

The use of a structure that allows the adjustment of the air flow, guarantees that no more cold air will be drawn through the box, then it is necessary to produce the necessary cooling. If the heat load is very light, the fans will not be needed, and all the available openings, as will become apparent, remain in the form of perforated panels, and the air is actually pumped through the case by convection currents produced. by the heat of the charges inside the box. No opening for cold air will be necessary under the floor. In prior art systems, as discussed above, the electrically powered equipment in the box is powered from an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), supported by direct current batteries. These UPS systems are very expensive and the power consumption is carefully programmed. It is an advantage of the present invention to have a convection cooling mode for the case, which does not need UPS power. If the cooling load is higher, a fan can be used, (an additional fan provides redundant “N + 1” operation), along with the grommets adjusted to provide sufficient cooling air flow capacity from under the raised floor. In this way, the need for cooling is met by simultaneously using a minimum of energy, a raised floor cooling air stream and static pressure. If redundancy is required, for fault tolerance, an additional fan can be used simultaneously to supply a load. The fans are sized to allow parallel operation of multiple fans. Solid side panels with threaded holes extending between adjoining boxes prevent cooling air from having a short cycle from a heavily loaded box that is contiguous to a lightly loaded box that is adjacent to a lightly loaded or empty box. If the heat load is heavy, fans can be added and the grommets can be opened further. As a consequence of such an arrangement, heat loads from 100 watts per box to more than 6000 watts per box can be accommodated.

Additional control is provided by a heavily perforated front box door. Air is exhausted through the front door which is adapted to house blind panels, as well as to block the air flow through various areas of the door in which to control the ambient air that mixes with the cooling air. If the fans are not used, the panels may not need to be inserted, although in some cases the protruding part of the clogged perforated opening can aid convection cooling. Research has shown that having the entire panel unobstructed impairs convection.

The ability to control the cooling effect as a function of heat load, adding or subtracting fans, varying the speed of the fans, controlling the grommets and controlling the flow through the front door without having to make any interior adjustments or change the basic structure, provides a grain of flexibility that could not be achieved before. Simultaneous maintainability is critical for the operators of these critical work teams.

Additional features of the system refer to the ability to make changes with ease (simultaneous maintainability). A shelf at the bottom of the housing preferably installed at the factory is located on the floor separated by a distance that allows easy access to the grommets for adjustments regarding air flow or wire installations. The solid panels that obstruct the air flow fit into spaces in the upper part that, otherwise, can accommodate panels that have fans mounted on top. Separation bars that reside just below the top of the case prevent the equipment from being inserted so close to the fans that it inhibits airflow. Additional adjustment is provided by the heavily perforated front door and the rear panel, if convenient, of the case. With an insulated box, holes can be pierced

ES 2 209 348 T3 side panels. Multiple access raised floor tiles have to be excluded from the floor installation, saving floor costs and construction time to provide unobstructed access to the box for cooled air and electrical installation under the raised floor. In addition, special fixtures are provided to prevent the smaller panel parts of the floor from sliding under their associated box, thereby preventing flow to the box.

The above and other features ensure that underfloor cooling is used only when needed and only to the extent necessary to keep the equipment in the box within the desired temperature range for each piece of equipment. Therefore, the desired objective is to ensure that the cooling air and static pressure under the raised floor environment are not wasted by large cuts in the floor, for access cables and to provide enough space for a mechanic to work. Alternatively, when air is supplied from above, induction fans are used to efficiently cool equipment without undercooling the front.

Another distinct advantage of adjustable grommets is to provide space for a worker to install cables and conduit into the box through the floor and then employ a rotating grommet cap to restrict airflow once the cables are installed . A snap cap can be used to prevent leakage, but can be easily removed if needed for installation and repair work. If additional cooling is required, the grommets can be adjusted without having to move the box.

There are facilities where the location is kept quite cool by air conditioning the room and, under the floor, no refrigeration is used. In such a case, the structure is raised above the ground and the floor access liner is used for power and network cabling only, not for cooling. Under these circumstances, it is a violation of national regulations for electrical and fire protection installations to use the access floor for air distribution. The advantage of the box here is that the induction fans on the top of the box are used to draw in ambient air from the front, side or rear perforated panels. Ambient air conditioning is used to supplement the ambient cooling effect of the air induced through the perforated panels of the box. The grommets on the bottom plate remain closed, except for those used for power or network cables. Once the electrical installation and wiring are installed, the grommets underneath are closed around the cables and wires to avoid wasting the air flow from the induction fans and to avoid a serious safety code violation by inducing the air flow through the access floor not classified as impeller. A combination of the induced induction current and the fan induced current with one or both of the induced currents employed may be employed.

In other installations, the box is placed directly on the ground and the power and network cabling runs over it on cable ladders.

This closed box concept has distinct advantages in those areas where one of the fan modules can be replaced with a grommet to allow the overhead electrical installation to bypass down into the top of the box and the grommet to rotate to prevent jamming. loss of airflow, while the remaining fan modules remain intact for cooling. It is preferred to keep all the fans in place, the wires can be brought to a slot fixed on the top of the case, next to the fans. Again, ambient air, supplemented with ambient air conditioning units , provides cooling when ambient air is induced through perforated panels in the enclosure. Cables and electrical installation can now be routed through the top, through a grommet or through a side wall. Convection cooling helps the cooling process; that is, it acts as a pump to move the cold air upwards. Ambient air conditioning supplements the air in the room, which is then drawn into the box through the perforated front, side or rear walls and directed to the IT equipment in the box.

The concept of introducing cables etc. through the top wall can also be applied to the structure that is used with underfloor cooling. To provide this feature, one of the panels on the top wall can be replaced with a grommet.

In yet another embodiment in which the air under the floor is not used for cooling, however, ambient air conditioning is used. The box is placed on the ground and the fans are inserted in the bottom as well as in the upper part of the box. Since the coldest air always descends to the ground, the fans at the bottom of the case that blow the air upwards produce the highest efficiency in the system.

If the room is air-conditioned, the air duct intakes can blow the air down directly into the boxes, while the fans on both the top and bottom of the boxes draw the air down through the box ; removing the fan from the upper part of the inlet duct area whenever the upper part of the box allows it.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a box according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the box with blank panels installed behind the front perforated door of the box;

Figure 3 illustrates the top surface of a box providing up to six spaces for blind panels or panels having fans mounted on them, or simply, heavily perforated panels;

Figures 4A-4D illustrate various panel configurations that can be used with the top surface of the box illustrated in Figure 3;

Figure 5 illustrates the bottom panel of the box with the grommets to control the flow of cold air inside the boxes, which allow the wire to be introduced into the box and which are subsequently closed around the wire to prevent loss of cooling ;

Figure 6 is a detailed view of one of the grommets;

Figure 7 illustrates the location of the lower shelf of the box positioned to allow access to the grommets;

Figure 8 is an isometric view of a perforated shelf used in the present invention;

Figure 9 illustrates the arrangement of the box on the floor tiles and the modification of the tiles to provide the box access to cold air from under the tiles;

Figure 10 is a front elevational view of the location of a box above an open area of ​​the floor covering access facility that provides access to the interior of the box to cold pressurized air;

Figure 11 illustrates a tile stop used with the structure of Figure 9;

Figure 12 provides a detailed view of the use of the tile stopper in combination with a tile provided with a factory pre-cut;

Figure 13 illustrates the use of spreader bars to prevent obstruction of air flow through the top of the box;

Figure 14 illustrates the entry of wires and cables into a box and the passage of solid wires and cables into an adjoining box through the solid side wall panels with holes that have been threaded for the wires;

Figure 15 illustrates an arrangement in which several boxes are placed side by side and the wiring is fed into each box from an overhead cable ladder through grommets in the top wall replacing the panels illustrated in Figure 1. One of the panels 12 of figure 1 is replaced by a grommet and wires and cables are or can be introduced into the box through that grommet in the upper wall;

Figure 15A is a detailed view of the upper part of the boxes of Figure 15;

Fig. 16 illustrates the structure when used in a situation where the cooling air is not supplied under the floor;

Figure 17 illustrates a slider for controlling air flow through the door;

Figure 18 illustrates the overheat alarm;

Figure 18A illustrates the overheat alarm in detail; and Figure 19 illustrates the use of air ducts to provide cool air to, or hot exhaust air from, the box.

Next, with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, a box 2 has a heavily perforated front door 4, side walls 6, of which only one is shown, and a rear wall also not shown and a top wall 8 and a bottom wall 22 shown in Figure 5. It should be noted that the rear panel and the side panels, in a separate environment, can also be heavily perforated.

The top wall 8 has at least one or a number of openings 12 to accommodate panels with different configurations: a perforated panel 14, as shown in Figure 4A, a solid panel 16 as shown in Figure 4B, and a panel 20 carrying a fan having a fan 18 mounted thereon, as shown in FIG. 4C. Figure 4D illustrates a top view of a panel 21 with a variable aperture panel grommet 24 in the upper wall 8 to accommodate wires if necessary.

The structure of the top wall 8 is shown in more detail in Figure 3, with each opening 12 being approximately 8 ½ ”deep x 11

1/8 "wide in one embodiment of the invention. Highly perforated panel 14 is used when a fan or fans are not used, panel 16 is used when a fan (or fans) is operating in one of the other openings, and panel 20 is used to provide induced airflow through from the box.

The bottom wall of the box is shown in Figure 5 and is designated by reference numeral 22. The wall is shown with six openings with a grommet 24 located in each. Each grommet can be adjusted to provide no opening, to provide a half opening with two leaves, a quarter opening with four leaves, etc., in which it is located. The grommet can be removed to provide a full opening. Cables and wires can be introduced into the box through one of the grommets, grommet 24a in figure 5. Two plates 30 and 32, see figure 6 of grommet 24a, one or both of which are slotted at 30a, so that all wires and cables fit into the hole provided in this way and the grommet can be fully closed to prevent excessive flow of cold air out from under the floor.

This same arrangement can be used for cables and wires inserted from the top. See Figure 19. Referring to Figure 6, the grommet consists of an outer frame 26 that fits into a hole in the bottom of the case. Frame 26 has a rim 28 on which two disc-shaped elements 30 and 32 can be seated. The elements rotate around a small pivot pin 34 that joins the two elements. By rotating the elements relative to each other, the size of the opening can be controlled. The wiring for the components to be placed in the box can be inserted through the opening provided by the openings that have been left in the ground access system on which the box is installed, as shown in the figure 10. The grommets can be closed enough to block all the air, except for the lack of tightness through the cables, and as indicated in figure 5, even that can be restricted to practically nothing by shaping the leaves to fit perfectly around wires and cables.

Referring to Figure 7, Box 2 is shown with a factory installed shelf 35 to avoid reduced flow below the floor, preventing any equipment from being located in that area at the same time as the shelf providing uninhibited access to the grommets to allow adjustment as needed. The gauge of the metal plate is such that a groove drilled on the ground, such as the groove 35 or 30a shown in Figure 5, can be created to slide the plate around existing wires, without disconnecting the equipment. Referring to Figure 7A, shelf 35 is shown with a slot for accommodating cables and wires such as wires and cables 39.

The number of grommets and openings provided for the panels in the upper part of the box can be chosen to suit the needs of the system in which the apparatus is to operate. If the heat load is low, the grommets can be closed at the bottom of the box and all the openings in the top panel can be left open. Convection currents will draw air through the door.

ES 2 209 348 T3 front panel to produce efficient cooling. If the heat load is at maximum, six fans can be used and the grommets at the bottom of the case can be fully opened. In this case, one or more blind panels 36, see figure 2, can be inserted behind the perforated door 4 for further control of the air flow through the door. As noted hereinafter, in some embodiments of the invention airflow through the door is essential for proper operation, and the blanking panels have been removed to allow maximum flow through the door.

With reference to Figure 8, as indicated above, the shelves designated by reference numeral 38 are perforated, so that the cooling air can flow freely over all surfaces of the equipment resting on a shelf. As a typical example, shelves can have up to 75 perforations per square foot providing 50% free area.

Referring to Figure 9 of the drawings, the boxes are positioned on the tiles in groups, side by side, with the sides of the boxes in contact with each other, thereby isolating each box from each of the other boxes and offering a climate control inside a box completely under the control of the controls for a box. On the other hand, if desired, the controls on the adjoining boxes can be interrelated by passing threads between the boxes through the side walls. In some installations, groups of boxes can have 20 to 30 boxes, depending on the geometry of the room and other physical conditions. As is apparent below, groups of six boxes are preferred. The threads can be passed through the side walls of one box to the other through holes 40 (see Figure 1). A space between boxes, approximately every 6 boxes, is to allow service personnel access to the boxes and minimize problems with the location of the boxes and with the cutting of the tiles. The boxes are positioned on the floor to allow the floor tile adjoining the back of the box to be lifted to allow access to the area under the tile and box.

In a typical embodiment, the boxes are 36 "by 28" on the floor, and each floor tile is 24 "by 24". It is evident that each box is supported by several tiles. With these dimensions, a group of six boxes occupies exactly 7 tiles and, as is evident below, no tiles need to be cut at work. Referring specifically again to Figure 9 of the accompanying drawings, the placement of a box on the raised floor tiles is shown.

The door 4 of the box is on the right, as shown in Figure 9, while the right side 6 of the box is positioned approximately along the edge 42 of the tiles marked 44 and 55. As you can seen and discussed in relation to figure 10, the right side of the box is supported on a beam 62. The rear wall of box 2 is placed on a beam under tiles 46, 48 and 50. The box is placed on tiles 54 and 57. An important feature is that the tiles do not need to be cut at the installation site, as the factory-supplied tiles 58 and 60 adapt a box to the floor and allow support to be provided by the floor support pedestals.

As can be seen in Figure 9, the box is supported on tiles 42, 52, 54 and tile 56 and partially supplied by the factory, tiles 58 and 60, with a total of two full tiles and two partial tiles. Previous installation practices necessitate cutting costly floor tiles to size to provide an opening through the tiles in the area below the raised floor. This box allows the floor tile manufacturer to pre-cut tile 58 by 4 ”and a 16” by 24 ”panel 60 on the back and front of the box. The structure discussed leaves a central opening 62 for access to the cold area below the tile. The horizontal depth of the opening, as shown in Figure 9, is 28 ", so the access is 24" x 28 "= 672 square inches or 4.67 square feet.

The fact that the plenum plate has grommets for electrical installation and cooling allows installers to avoid cutting to size holes in expensive floor tiles. According to the present invention, the floor is installed and the box is simply placed on top of open areas of tiles. A small amount of sealant is applied to the bottom of the box and the boxes slide into position. The time and money required for designing, installing the flooring and custom drilled openings in the floor tile under the boxes are drastically reduced. The flexibility to move the boxes in the future is maintained.

Figure 9A shows a conventional prior art approach to support a group of boxes of the same size as shown here. Each box is supported on two or more tiles. The tiles have to be cut to support and properly position the box over an opening. In Fig. 9A, items 51 along the left side of the figure, relative to items 53 along the right side, show what remains of the tiles after counting to accommodate the box.

Figure 9B shows a tile arrangement, employing 8 tiles to support 4 boxes, as described herein. The elements 58 along the left side of the drawing are used as shown in Figure 9, and the tiles 60 placed along the right side of the drawing are also as shown in Figure 9. As can be seen In Figure 9B, custom cuts are required to support a fourth box of a group of 4. Tiles 61 and 63 have to be cut to size on site.

If 6 boxes are placed in a group, the width of the set of 6 boxes is 6x 28 = 168 ”. Each tile is 24 ”, so 6 boxes equals exactly 7 tiles. This way, with the boxes arranged in groups of 6, there is no need to cut the tiles on the job.

Now referring to Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings, the edges of the tiles on a standard raised floor are supported on beams, the reference numerals 64 and 66 (also known as "braces"), beams that are supported on pedestals 65. In the present invention, the factory-supplied part tiles 58 and 60 are supported by beams 64 and 71, as shown in the figure

10. To prevent slabs 58 and 60 from slipping on the

ES 2 209 348 T3 open space 62, tile stops 68 and 70 are used (see Figures 11 and 12). With reference to the tile stop 68, this is secured under and to a gland plate 72 of the box. The box is secured to the beam 64 with bolts or flanges through the bottom of one wall of the box, as seen in Figure 12. The tile stop has a downward extension 74 that is seated, as seen in Figures 10 and 12, along the edge of the slab 58. The box is attached to the beam 64, the tile stop is attached to the grommet plate 72, and the extension 74 prevents movement of the slab 58. In this way, the entire structure is integrated to ensure that all elements of the structure remain in a fixed position relative to each other. In this regard, the group of boxes, nine for example, are all secured on beams 64 and 66, and cannot move relative to each other.

Next, referring to Figure 13, bars 75 are suspended from the top of the box frame to prevent materials from being placed close enough to the top wall of the box to prevent air flow through the box. the top wall. In this way, measures have been taken to ensure unobstructed air flow in and out of the box.

Referring now to Figure 14, the entry of wires and cables into the box and the passage of such wires and cables into the adjacent box is shown schematically. In particular, a box 76 houses cables and wires 77 from under the tile floor 78 through one of the grommets. See figure 5 for details. The wires and cables are connected to various pieces of equipment 80 and 82 and fans 81, and the wires and cables 86 are taken from the equipment and the wires and cables enter an adjoining box 84. The cable openings 40 can be hermetically sealed around the wires and cables to prevent box-to-box air flow.

As an example of a configuration, the solid wall panels between the boxes have six two-inch holes that are used to transport the wire between adjoining boxes without seriously affecting the cooling performance between a lightly loaded equipment box and a heavily loaded one. . If necessary, a seat can be provided.

Next, referring to Figure 15 of the accompanying drawings, the apparatus of Figure 1 is modified by replacing at least one of the panels 12 with a panel 32 carrying a grommet. If desirable, wires and cables 88 may be fed from a cable ladder or conduit 89 through such a grommet. In such a case, the grommet has the configuration of grommet 24a, shown in Figure 5; that is, the grommet plates are slotted to seal around wires and cables 88. The grommet also provides control of airflow in and / or out through the top and multiple grommets can be used for this purpose. A gasketed groove can be used instead of a grommet.

The arrangement of Figure 15 shows three boxes 144, 146 and 148 side by side. The wires 88, as appropriate, pass from the box 144, through openings 40 in the abutting side walls of the boxes, to the other boxes 146 and 148 and to others located thereafter, if appropriate.

Figure 15A provides a somewhat modified view of the top of the boxes 144, 146 and

148. Cables and wires 150 are brought down from a cable ladder 149, instead of a conduit such as in Figure 5 thus providing less complexity to these parts. The wires and cables 150 extend into the box 146 through a gland or groove 152 with gasket in the center box 146, so that the wires can extend in one or both directions within the boxes 144 and 148.

Next, with reference to Figure 16, a modification of the structure is shown to allow use with a solid floor and a heated room.

The box is used to induce ambient air, which is further cooled by an ambient air conditioning system, through the perforated front, side, bottom or rear panels, and is blown up through the computer equipment by the induction fans placed on top. The basic structure of figure 1 can be upright on legs, directly on the ground, or the induction fans can be placed on the bottom plate by blowing air upwards, if required by a particular installation. Such an arrangement is used to take advantage of the maximum volume of cold air in the lower areas of the room. The legs are long enough to provide an unobstructed flow of air through the bottom wall; Legs from one foot to one and a half feet in length are suitable.

Again, the box has perforated shelves 92, a front door 94, and parts 96 added to the door to provide flow control through the heavily perforated area of ​​the door. The panel can be solid or perforated to varying degrees. Again, inserts may be provided on the bottom wall, such as panels 100, 102 and 104 of the porous, solid or fan-housing type.

Thus, the box of Figure 16 is essentially the same as the device of Figure 1, but with legs.

As discussed in the introduction and above, to conserve the cold air under the floor so that it does not exceed the capacity of the air conditioner supplying the cold air under the floor, the system can be modified somewhat. In this arrangement, the reliance is placed on the ambient air to produce the refrigeration; either normal ambient air or cooling ambient air of the climate control device.

In one embodiment, no fans are used. The convection flow in the box induces enough ambient air to control the temperature in the box. In this case, a box door may be employed, such as that shown in Figure 17. The door 108 of a box 110 includes a panel 112 having a central zone 114 that is heavily perforated relative to the solid zones 116 and 118. from the top and bottom. A solid slide 120 in its highest position covers the perforated area of ​​panel 112 and blocks air flow through the door. Panel 120 is shown in its lowest position and exposes the perforations in panel 112. The panel can be positioned to expose perforations 114 to varying degrees and thereby control flow through the door. The panels and the slide are retained by an additional panel 122 that engages the edges of the panels.

ES 2 209 348 T3

The various panels are made of transparent plastic, so that the inside of the boxes is clearly visible.

Next, referring to FIG. 18, the front of a box is shown showing the details of the slide 120 and its associated structure. In this figure, reference numerals from Figure 17 are used. Slide 120 is shown partially recessed to expose perforations 114 in panel 112. Panel 122 holds all elements in place.

Note in the upper part of the box above the door 108, an opening 126 behind which is a temperature indicator 128 for the interior of the box 110, next to a heater lamp 130. Lamp 130 protrudes from the box, see Figure 17, so that it can be viewed from a wide variety of positions in the room. If overheating occurs, lamp 130 will light to indicate this condition.

Referring to Figure 18A, details of a unit 132 suitable for use in the box are shown. Unit 132 includes a temperature sensing element, a thermistor, not shown. Unit 132 also provides a display screen 132 (liquid crystal) and is available from Weiss Instruments, Farmingdale, New York. An integrated circuit and audible alarm may also be provided to provide monitoring of the Internet local area network.

Next, referring to Fig. 19, an arrangement employing an air conduit is provided. A box (s) 134 is (are) upright on legs 136 and has fans 138 located on its bottom panel 140. The box (s) is (are) located under an air duct 142, which may be a cooling duct or an exhaust duct. If the duct is a cooling duct, the cold air is directed into the box via an intake duct 143. Fans 138 draw cool air through the case and cool the equipment in it.

If the duct 142 is part of an exhaust system, then the fans can produce an upward flow to blow cool air up through the box for cooling, as discussed in relation to Figure 16 and the heated air passes through conduit 143 to exhaust conduit 142.

It should be noted that the system shown is the inventor's early production design.

The box is designed to house equipment that uses up to 7500 watts of power. Various modifications can be made to the equipment and, in particular, to the specific pieces of equipment specified here. Once the above description is displayed, many other features, modifications, and improvements will be apparent to the skilled craftsman.