Patent ID: 11897149
Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B

Claim 7:
8. An apparatus, comprising:
a main body defining a bottom surface, a back vertical surface, a first side vertical surface, and a second side vertical surface opposite to the first side vertical surface, and an open front, to define an interior space open to a front of the main body and enclosed by the bottom surface, the back vertical surface, the first side surface, and the second side surface;
a drive system that propels and positions the apparatus along horizontal surface;
a fan system mounted within the interior space and positioned to blow air down into the interior space;
a first gripper apparatus that grips an equipment drawer of an electronics rack that is external to the apparatus and reciprocally extracts the equipment drawer from a closed position to an extracted position, and that inserts the equipment drawer from the extracted position to the closed position, wherein when the equipment drawer is in the extracted position, the equipment drawer is substantially within the interior space of the main body; and
a second gripper apparatus that grips and removes a target electronic component from a target position located within the equipment drawer when the equipment drawer is in the extracted position, and that swaps the target electronic component with a replacement electronic component by inserting the replacement electronic component into the target position,
wherein at least the back vertical surface of the main body includes perforations so that sufficient air flow generated by the fan system flows through the perforations to maintain cooling of electronic components in the equipment drawer when the equipment drawer is in the extracted position.