Configurable modular computer enclosure

A configurable modular computer enclosure includes a plurality of outer enclosures (1, 2, 3), the outer enclosures being connected together in a depth stacked formation producing a single composite outer enclosure with a single internal volume and a depth equalling the combined depths of the outer enclosures. The composite outer enclosure houses multiple sets of configurable inner enclosures (4, 5, 6, 7, 8), each inner enclosure set being formed into a composite inner enclosure by connecting together the inner enclosures in the set, allowing unlimited configurations of composite inner enclosures. Each composite inner enclosure is inserted into the composite outer enclosure and aligned via guides or runners (9) integrated into the outer enclosures.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to computer enclosures which contain multiple inner enclosures such as compute node enclosures and storage node enclosures, the set of node enclosures being enclosed in an outer enclosure.

Related Art

The increasing use of multiple micro-computer systems in place of monolithic mainframe computers has led to the development of computer enclosures which house multiple computer nodes at high density. Each node in such a system typically contains a computer motherboard and/or a set of storage drives. The common terminology for such nodes is the “blade node” and the outer cabinet a “blade enclosure”.

Current blade systems typically provide a blade enclosure which contains a common connection point mid-way back (the “mid-plane”) or at the back (the “back-plane”) of the enclosure. Each blade node connects to this common connection point in order to access shared resources such as an electric power supply and computer network connectivity. For mid-plane based blade systems, the rear of the blade enclosure behind the mid-plane houses hardware components which support the shared resources. These include power supply units and network switches.

The current state of art of blade systems is the provision of a single, fixed dimensioned outer blade enclosure with integrated shared resource hardware in the rear section and a fixed volume in the front section to house multiple blade nodes. Blade nodes of a single fixed depth may be inserted into the front of the outer enclosure. This setup allows different width and height blade nodes to be inserted, but limits the configurability of the blade system to that of groups of nodes of identical depths, the depth equalling the depth of the fixed dimensioned outer blade enclosure. In addition, the investment necessary to procure the single large blade enclosure is often prohibitive when a smaller number of compute and storage nodes is initially required.

As a result, it is very difficult to adapt current blade systems for diverse configurations and requirements such as size, performance, cost, functionality of the blade system, future expansion, and reconfiguration. Current monolithic blade systems may not easily be extended, contracted, split into multiple smaller blade systems, or intricately reconfigured from their primary design or use case.

SUMMARY

In order to overcome the present limitations with blade enclosures, the present invention provides a fully configurable modular blade enclosure, allowing the end user the capability to create diverse and varied blade node enclosure arrangements with the same set of core modular enclosure components. This includes configurability for different outer enclosure depths via depth stacking of outer enclosures, and configurability of composite inner enclosures via depth, width, and optionally height stacking of node enclosures to form composite blade node sets. The depths of the outer enclosures in a composite outer enclosure may be different to each other and are not related to each other, nor to the node enclosures to be placed within the composite outer enclosure.

Depth stacking of outer enclosures allows configurability of all dimensions of the blade node sets inserted into the resulting composite outer enclosure. The depth dimension of the outer and inner enclosures is special in so far as blade enclosures are normally mounted inside 19″ rack equipment. As such, insertion of blade nodes into a blade enclosure must be performed from the front or back of the blade enclosure. Provision for full configurability of the arrangement of inner enclosures as provided by the present invention allows a far greater range of uses than is currently possible with the related art.

The present invention is primary concerned with the physical assemblies of the outer and inner enclosures, the content of each inner blade node, consisting of equipment including motherboards and storage drives, being unconstrained.

In one embodiment, an outer blade enclosure, possessing a plurality of horizontal alignment bolt holes located within the front and rear edges of the outer enclosure and which lie inline with the depth axis, may be attached together via alignment bolts to a second outer enclosure of equal width and height, to form a single depth stacked composite outer enclosure with a depth equal to the combined depths of the two outer enclosures. Generalising, a plurality of outer enclosures of equal width and height and equipped with such horizontal alignment bolt holes may be attached together to form a single depth stacked composite outer enclosure with a depth equal to the combined depths of the outer enclosures.

A node enclosure is defined here as an indivisible inner enclosure which contains unspecified computer hardware. A blade node set is defined as a set of node enclosures, physically arranged together to form a single composite “blade node”, possessing uniform width and uniform depth. A plurality of blade node sets are inserted into the composite outer lade enclosure, forming a complete system.

Given the composite outer enclosure with depth equal to the combined depths of the individual outer enclosures, a plurality of blade node sets may then be configured with various physical arrangements for the available volume within the composite outer enclosure. The overall depth of each of these blade node sets will not exceed the depth available inside the composite outer enclosure. Similarly, the sum of the widths of the blade node sets to be inserted into the composite outer enclosure will not exceed the available width inside the composite outer enclosure.

With respect to the depth axis, each blade node set consists of one or more conceptual node segments. Each segment consists of one or more full or partial node enclosures stacked widthwise and fixed together in this embodiment via horizontal alignment bolt holes located within the sides of the node enclosures and which lie inline with the width axis. The segment depth of a blade node set is defined as the smallest depth of all the node enclosures contained within the set. The depth of each node enclosure within the blade node set is thus equal to a multiple of the segment depth, and node enclosures span one or more segments.

Similarly and with respect to the width axis, each blade node set consists of one or more conceptual node slices. Each slice consists of one or more lull or partial node enclosures stacked depthwise and fixed together in this embodiment via horizontal alignment bolt holes located within the front/rear of the node enclosures and which lie inline with the depth axis. The slice width of a blade node set is defined as the smallest width of all the node enclosures contained within the set. The width of each node enclosure within the blade node set is thus equal to a multiple of the slice width, and node enclosures span one or more slices.

The overall physical constrains within a particular blade node set are that the set of node enclosures contained within the blade node set must fit together without forming voids and that the overall shape of the blade node set must form a rectangular cuboid. The exact arrangement of the node enclosures within each blade node set is thus configurable and is determined for each use case, despite the blade node sets being constructed from a small number of node enclosure models of different dimensions.

Each resulting blade node set will have a uniform depth not exceeding the depth of the volume within the composite outer enclosure. Each resulting blade node set will have a uniform width. Including engineered gaps for manufacturing tolerances, the combined widths of all the resulting blade node sets inserted within the composite outer enclosure will not exceed the width of the volume within the composite outer enclosure. A group of blade node sets with a combined width (including tolerances) which is equal to the inner width of the composite outer enclosure will thus fill the outer composite enclosure width exactly.

With regard to the height of the blade node sets and the heights of the node enclosures contained within, it is trivial to extend the modularity concept to this third dimension. In such a configuration, a third conceptual measurement representing the smallest indivisible height of a node enclosure would exist, in addition to the segment depth and the slice width. Node enclosures would then also be aligned and fixed together in the height dimension, in addition to the depth and width dimensions.

With regard to the form of the node enclosures, the form of the node enclosures as described in the example embodiment above is rectangular cuboid. Without loss of scope of the invention, the form of the cross sectional profiles of the node enclosures in each dimension could be different via a simple adaptation of the stacking embodiments.

Common uses of the present invention are varied and the content of each node enclosure may be compute nodes, storage node, power supply units, network switches, or any other hardware capable of being situated within a node enclosure. Other suitable uses for node enclosures include, but are not limited to, the housing of circuits for audio and other signal processing circuitry, mechanical systems for extractable keyboards and other mechanical devices, and patch-bays for cable connectivity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1illustrates a configured example of a particular embodiment. The configurable modular computer enclosure example includes a set of outer enclosures1,2,3depth stacked and fixed together by tension bolts10to form a single composite outer enclosure.

A collection of blade node sets are inserted into the composite outer enclosure. Shown inFIG. 1is a single example of a blade node set, this configured example consisting of five node enclosures4,5,6,7,8. Single slice node enclosures4and5are width stacked to form a single segment at the front of the blade node set. Double slice node enclosure6forms the middle segment of the blade node set. Single slice node enclosures7and8are width stacked to form a single segment at the rear of the blade node set.

The blade node set illustrated inFIG. 1has three segments. Any combination of outer enclosure depths may be used to house the example blade node set, independently to the individual segment depths within the blade node set. Any combination of segment depths may be used in each blade node set in an enclosure. The only constraint is that the total depth of a particular blade node set must not exceed the available depth of the composite outer enclosure into which the blade node set will be introduced.

The outer enclosures1,2,3of this embodiment each contain a set of runner guides9which align the insertion of the blade node sets into the full depth of the composite outer enclosure. In this embodiment, the runner guides9are themselves indirectly aligned between each outer enclosure via the depth stack alignment bolts10. The node enclosures of this embodiment have corresponding U shaped channels11into which the runner guides enter when the blade node set is inserted into the composite outer enclosure.

FIG. 2shows the details of the depth stacking and alignment tension bolts10between two outer enclosures1,3. In this embodiment, the outer enclosures have depth stack alignment bolt holes in the front and rear of the outer enclosures through which the tension bolts10are fed. The outer enclosures are aligned and fixed securely to each other. The front of the front outer enclosure and the rear of the rear outer enclosure have unused depth stack/alignment tension bolts12, ready for use for additional depth stacking if required.

FIG. 3shows another embodiment of the depth stacked outer enclosures1,3in which the fixation and alignment of the outer enclosures is achieved via exterior side alignment shear bolt fixing plates13. The exterior fixing plates create a horizontal alignment of depth stacked outer enclosures themselves. Vertical alignment is achieved via the shear bolts14positioned on the sides of the outer enclosure.

FIG. 4shows another embodiment of the depth stacked outer enclosures1,3in which the fixation and alignment of the outer enclosures is achieved via interior side alignment shear bolt fixing plates15. The interior fixing plates create a horizontal alignment of depth stacked outer enclosures themselves. Vertical alignment is achieved via the shear bolts14positioned on the sides of the outer enclosure.

FIG. 5shows a blade node set guide embodiment installed within depth stacked outer enclosures. Runner guides9are aligned between depth stacked enclosures1,3via indirect alignment tension bolts10and runner alignment tension bolts16. A group of inline runners (one from each of the depth stacked outer enclosures) form a composite single runner which spans the depth of the composite outer enclosure. The set of composite runners form the complete set of guides for the configured composite outer enclosure.

FIG. 6shows a variation of the runner guide embodiment which includes directly aligned runners17, the alignment being achieved via dowels19. The dowels may be composed of any uniform profile. Shown inFIG. 6are dowels with a circular profile. Also shown inFIG. 6are example outer enclosure runner bases18, to which the runner guides are attached via tension bolts16. The ends of the runner guides of this embodiment have holes which accept dowels of a compatible diameter. Runner guides positioned inline across the depth stacked outer enclosures thus interconnect with each other and align via the dowels. In place of bolts, the runner guides could be attached to the bases via other means such as welding joints or glue.

FIG. 7shows a variation of the directly aligned runner guide embodiment which integrates the dowel20into the end of the runner guides17. In this embodiment, the front end of the runner guides have integrated dowels20and the rear ends of the runner guides have holes which accept the dowel. Runner guides positioned inline across the depth stacked outer enclosures will thus interconnect with each other. The integrated dowels may be composed of any uniform profile. Shown inFIG. 7are integrated dowels with a circular profile.

FIG. 8shows a variation of the directly aligned runner guide embodiment which uses double ended left-right hand thread bolts21to connect the runners17together. In this embodiment, the front end of the runner has a right hand threaded hole which accepts the right hand thread of bolt21and the rear end of the runner has a left hand threaded hole which accepts the left hand thread of bolt21. Runner guides positioned inline across the depth stacked outer enclosures will thus interconnect with each other and align via the double ended left-right hand thread bolts. The heads of the double ended bolts must have an overall radius that is less than the smallest cross-sectional radius of the runner guide, otherwise the bolt heads will prevent insertion of the blade node sets past the front outer enclosure.

FIG. 9shows an example of node enclosure depth stacking. In this embodiment, two node enclosures22,23are depth stacked via alignment tension holts24in the front and rear of the node enclosures. The embodiment ofFIG. 9also illustrates dual use of precut holes in the front and rear of the node enclosures for node enclosure depth stacking with tension bolts. The holes used by the tension bolts are available for use for mounting electronic components such as LEDs or switches if required in the front of the front node enclosure and/or in the rear of the rear node enclosure in the blade node set slice.

Whilst the node enclosure depth stacking embodiment inFIG. 9illustrates tension bolt fixation, the embodiment shown inFIG. 10illustrates node enclosure depth stacking via shear bolt fixings. The node enclosures22,23are aligned via alignment plates25, placed along the sides of the node enclosures. Shear bolts26are used to fix the alignment plates to the node enclosures. Countersunk bolt heads or an indented node enclosure must be used in order to ensure there is no encroachment outside of the walls of the node enclosures.

The embodiment inFIG. 10illustrates shear plates placed on the interior of the side walls of the node enclosures. Another embodiment would be to place the shear plates on the exterior of the side walls of the node enclosures. Whilst this embodiment would achieve the same alignment and fixing of the node enclosures, the fixing plates would encroach on the interior volume of the composite outer enclosure. Specific provision would thus be necessary to avoid adjacent blade node sets from interfering with each other when inserted into the interior volume of the composite outer enclosure. One suitable provision for such an embodiment would be an adapted node enclosure containing a depressed region into which the fixing plates could fit flush with the exterior of the node enclosure side walls.

FIG. 11shows an embodiment of width stacking of node enclosures within a blade node set. Node enclosures27,28form two slices of a blade node set and are aligned and fixed together via tension holts29which pass through aligned holes in the sides of the node enclosures. Width stacking spacers30are required to fill the tolerance gap normally present between adjacent but unconnected node enclosures. In addition to tension bolt width stacking as illustrated inFIG. 11, shear holt width stacking similar to the shear holt depth stacking as illustrated inFIG. 10is also possible. Similarly to the exterior shear fixing depth stacking embodiment illustrated inFIG. 10, provision would be required, such as depressed regions in the ends of the node enclosures, in order to house the fixing plates.

FIGS. 12 and 13illustrate node enclosures that span more than one segment or slice.FIG. 12shows two single slice, single segment node enclosures22,23depth stacked as previously illustrated inFIGS. 9 and 10. Contained within the same blade node set,FIG. 12illustrates a width stacked node enclosure31possessing a depth equal to two segments. The width stacking embodiment used inFIG. 12is the same as the embodiment described inFIG. 11.

Similarly but with respect to slices,FIG. 13shows two single slice, single segment node enclosures27,28width stacked as previously seen inFIG. 11. In the same node set.FIG. 13illustrates a depth stacked node enclosure32possessing a width equal to two slices. The depth stacking embodiment used inFIG. 12is the same as the embodiment described inFIG. 9.

FIGS. 14 to 20illustrate a variety of different embodiments for node blade set guides. These align the blade node sets when inserted into the composite outer enclosure. Each of the guide embodiments maintain the alignment between adjacent depth stacked outer enclosures. In each of the figures, a single outer enclosure is shown for brevity. Other embodiments which fall into the scope of the appended claims may also be implemented equally to the example embodiments illustrated inFIGS. 14 to 20. The fundamental requirement for such guide embodiments is that an embodiment must be able to be depth stacked without causing obstructions which would prevent the full insertion of the blade node sets.

Five of the example node blade set guide embodiments (shown inFIGS. 14, 17, 18, 19, and 20) are equal in functionality and allow full and unlimited configuration of the blade node sets to be inserted into the internal volume of the composite outer enclosure. The other two example node blade set guide embodiments (shown inFIGS. 15 and 16) provide a reduced functionality due to the physical division of the internal volume of the composite outer enclosure.

FIG. 14shows a node blade set guide embodiment which uses runner guides. The runner guides9are equally spaced across the bottom of the internal volume of the outer enclosure1, inline with the depth axis. A second set of runner guides are equally spaced across the top of the internal volume of the outer enclosure. The corresponding node enclosures (not shown inFIG. 14) contain U shaped channels which run along the guides. Shown inFIG. 14are runner guides with a square cross-sectional profile. Other cross-sectional profiles may also be used, without changing the fundamental design. When a different cross-sectional profile is used for the runner guides, the U shaped channels in the corresponding node enclosures must match the different cross-sectional profile.

FIGS. 15 and 16show embodiments of fully and partially implicit guides.FIG. 15shows the internal volume of outer enclosure1divided into a number of sections by internal walls33. These walls reduce the available width to a fraction of the full internal width of the outer enclosure. One or more blade node sets whose combined width is equal to the available width between walls may be inserted together into the available width.FIG. 16shows the same internal volume division as illustrated inFIG. 15, with the addition of supplementary mini-runners34placed inline with the depth axis. These mini-runners provide some additional restriction in lateral movement when inserting the blade node sets.

FIG. 17shows a node blade set guide embodiment which uses semi-circular runner guides with guide wheels. The semi-circular runner guides35are equally spaced across the bottom of the internal volume of the outer enclosure1, inline with the depth axis. A second set of semi-circular runner guides are inverted and equally spaced across the top of the internal volume of the outer enclosure1. The node enclosures (not shown inFIG. 17) contain runner wheels36in place of the U shaped channels previously illustrated inFIG. 1. Shown inFIG. 17are runner guides with a semi-circular cross-sectional profile. Other cross-sectional profiles may also be used, without changing the fundamental design. When a different cross-sectional profile is used for the runner guides, the profiles of the runner wheels in the corresponding node enclosures must match the different cross-sectional profile of the runners.

FIGS. 18, 19 and 20show embodiments of continuous undulating surface based guides. In these three embodiments, the guides are constructed as a pair of continuous pieces of material37,38,39. One piece is placed at the bottom of the outer enclosure and the other piece is inverted and placed at the top of the outer enclosure.

FIG. 18illustrates a one piece guide construction using a square guide shape37.FIG. 19illustrates a one piece guide construction using a triangular guide shape38.FIG. 20illustrates a one piece guide construction using a semi-circular guide shape39. The corresponding node enclosures (not shown inFIGS. 18, 19 and 20) contain the inverse continuous undulating surface on the top and bottom of the nodes, which matches the undulating surface contained within the outer enclosures.

The one piece construction of the continuous undulating surfaces of the guide embodiments illustrated inFIGS. 18, 19 and 20may be assembled from multiple sections of the surface. An approach of this type would facilitate the manufacture of the surface by extrusion. A single extrusion die of manageable dimensions could then be used to manufacture the entire surface in parts.

The various outer and inner enclosures of the embodiments may be constructed from any material that may be formed into sheets with a strength sufficient to prevent deformation of the walls of the enclosures when under stresses within design tolerances. The present invention does not stipulate any particular material. Without limitation, two suitable choices include steel and aluminium. These materials also provide earthing and electromagnetic shielding capabilities, which are beneficial to a system which houses electrical and electronic components. Other suitable materials may nevertheless be used for the construction of the enclosures.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it is understood, however, that the present invention encompasses various modifications, interpretations, and alternatives that may be suggested which fall into the scope of the appended claims.