Patent Abstract:
A telecommunications enclosure for telecommunications equipment that includes an equipment housing with sealed openings to receive wiring. Each sealed opening having a removable blank so that the sealed opening can be utilized. There being at least two brackets mounted to the inside surface of the top of the equipment housing to receive and secure the telecommunications equipment. There being an enclosure door attached to the equipment housing to close off the open end of the equipment housing. The enclosure door being removable to allow access to the equipment housing. The enclosure door having perforations covering at least 30 percent of the enclosure door to allow airflow to flow in and out of the enclosure door when in a closed position on the equipment housing. The enclosure door having a depth such that a portion of the enclosure door with all of the perforations extends in the room.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present invention generally relates to telecommunications enclosures for data communications equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to enclosures to house data communications network equipment in a suspended ceiling system using passive cooling. 
     Data networking equipment is used within offices to provide connectivity between computers within a private network on the premise and to provide connectivity to external networks via public connections such as the Internet or other types of public interconnects. Typically, the public network connection is cabled or feed wirelessly to an equipment room in the private building and is connected to the private in-building network using appropriate telecommunications equipment. The point of transition from the public network to the private network in the equipment room is called the demarcation point. Within the private building, on the private side of the demarcation point, the network is called a premises network, and is comprised of core, distribution, and access routers and switches which appropriately route or switch data packets throughout the premises network, or connect data packets to the public network by way of the demarcation point. 
     Within the private building, premises networking equipment installed on the private side of the demarcation point may also be installed within telecommunications rooms, which are commonly located on each floor or level of the building. From the telecommunications rooms, data cabling is distributed throughout the floor of the building to work areas that house PCs and other networked devices. The data networking equipment is generally standardized as to its width and height, so that the networking equipment can be mounted in standardized racks using standardized mounting features designed for the networking equipment. The standardized mounting width is about 19.75″ and standardized height is about 1.75″. The standardized height is often referred to as a rack mount unit. The telecommunications room is generally a secured ventilated room that physically and environmentally protects the equipment installed within the telecommunications room. 
     In most cases, the cabling from the telecommunications room is run horizontally across the level of the building to work areas located on the same level as the telecommunications room. These cabling runs are called horizontal cable runs. The horizontal cable runs may connect directly to PCs in the work area or to other networking equipment within telecommunications enclosures. The purpose of the telecommunications enclosures is to provide secure restricted access to networking equipment. The telecommunications enclosures may also provide cooling and environmental protection to the networking equipment. Unlike the telecommunications room, the telecommunications enclosure is mounted within the workspace area. The workspace area is where the networked end devices, such as PCs, laptops, printers, projectors, monitors, etc. reside. The workspace area can be a classroom, meeting room, office cubicle area, laboratory, etc. This hierarchy of building a data network through the equipment room, the telecommunications room, and the telecommunications enclosure is called structured cabling, which is used to provide optimal data throughput in the private building. 
     The telecommunications enclosure is commonly a floor or wall mounted metal cabinet which contains standardized rack mount features for standardized rack mountable networking equipment. The drawback with a floor or wall mounted telecommunications enclosure is that it occupies commonly precious space within the private building workspace. Another form of the telecommunications enclosure is a metal cabinet which is installed in a raised floor, as is often the case in computer rooms and other highly networked facilities. Another location to mount the telecommunications enclosure is within the air handling space above a suspended ceiling or directly on the suspended ceiling system. Horizontal cabling can be easily run in the air handling space using suitable plenum rated cabling above the suspended ceiling and connected to the telecommunications enclosure. Mounting the telecommunications enclosure in the ceiling conserves precious work space. However, there may be building construction, fire and electrical code problems related to a ceiling installation of the telecommunications enclosure. For the equipment to be mounted above the suspended ceiling system, precautions must be taken to avoid the spread of flame and smoke. This requires the equipment to be “plenum rated” or installed within a suitable non-flammable enclosure, which may not be ventilated. Access to the equipment above the drop ceiling may need to be restricted to avoid the spread of dust and contamination. In some environments, especially hospitals, it is desirable to not lift ceiling tiles in a suspended ceiling tile system, in order to mitigate the spread of dirt and infections. Suspended ceiling systems are designed to provide a certain degree of protection against the spread of fire and in some cases, smoke. If the telecommunications enclosure is to be constructed as part of the ceiling system, the telecommunications enclosure must be designed in such a way as to not degrade the fire protection afforded by the suspended ceiling system. Finally, there is commonly very little room above the suspended ceiling tile due to the presence of ductwork, piping, wire-trays, joists, and other structural components. The ceiling mounted telecommunications enclosure often has very little “depth” with which to contain networking equipment. 
     Existing telecommunications enclosures designed to mount in the ceiling system are generally closed, locking metal cabinets. They support the enclosed equipment above the ceiling tile within the air handling space. Because the cabinet is closed, ventilation to cool the active networking equipment is required. Fans and vent holes may not be permitted within the air handling space above the suspended ceiling, as they essentially introduce the equipment into the air handling space. Also, existing cabinets are quite deep in order to store the networking equipment entirely above the suspended ceiling. This may create a problem when installing the cabinet, when air-handling space above the ceiling system is restricted in depth. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a ceiling mounted telecommunications enclosure to be installed into a standard suspended ceiling system. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a telecommunications enclosure with passive cooling from areas other than air handling space above a suspended ceiling system. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A telecommunications enclosure for telecommunications equipment that includes an equipment housing with sealed openings to receive wiring. Each sealed opening having a removable blank so that the sealed opening can be utilized. There being at least two brackets mounted to the inside surface of the top of the equipment housing to receive and secure the telecommunications equipment. There being an enclosure door attached to the equipment housing to close off the open end of the equipment housing. The enclosure door is removable to allow access to the equipment housing. The enclosure door has perforations covering at least 30 percent of the enclosure door to allow airflow to flow in and out of the enclosure door when in a closed position on the equipment housing. The enclosure door has a depth such that a portion of the enclosure door with all of the perforations extends in the room. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the telecommunications enclosure according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention is telecommunications enclosure  10 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . The telecommunications enclosure  10  employs passive cooling and includes features that allow the telecommunications enclosure to drop into the grid work of a standard suspended ceiling system. The telecommunications enclosure is designed to fit into the grid work of a standard suspended, false, drop, or acoustical ceiling.  FIG. 2  shows a flange  12  as part of the telecommunications enclosure  10  to permit the telecommunications enclosure  10  to drop into the ceiling grid work and be supported by the ceiling grid work. The telecommunications enclosure  10  can be designed to be any size or shape.  FIG. 2  shows the telecommunications enclosure  10  sized for a typical 2 foot by 2 foot ceiling system typically used in the United States. But, the telecommunications enclosure  10  could be 2′×4′, 4′×4′, metric, or any other form factor. The telecommunications enclosure  10  includes features to house standard rack mountable network equipment, such as Ethernet switches, routers, controllers, appliances, and UPSs. The telecommunications enclosure  10  uses standard compliant rack mounting features and dimensions. 
     FIGS.  1  and  3 - 9  shows that the telecommunications enclosure  10  includes a shallow equipment housing  14 . The equipment housing  14  fits within the air-handling space above ceiling tiles of the suspended ceiling system. The equipment housing  14  is devoid of openings and does not contain ventilation holes. Minimizing openings in the equipment housing  14  preserves the integrity of the non-flammable fire barrier created by the suspended ceiling. The equipment housing  14  is typically made of solid sheet metal and includes covered openings. The covered openings are covered with blanking panels which can be removed to use plenum rated cable termination assemblies. The blanking panels are used to cover openings that are not used, but are there to be removed if needed. The plenum rated cable termination wiring assemblies allow the connection of cabling to the equipment housing  14  to preserve the fire rated integrity of the ceiling system. 
     The telecommunications enclosure  10  permits installation of components and equipment within, as shown in FIGS.  1  and  5 - 7 . The equipment housing  14  of the telecommunications enclosure  10  acts as a bulk-head to which horizontal communications cabling can be connected to equipment in the equipment housing  14 . The horizontal communications cabling includes copper and fiber optic cables which can be terminated in the air handling space above the ceiling on the exterior side of the equipment housing  14 . The communications cabling is terminated on exterior side of the equipment housing  14  using an appropriate cable termination assembly, sometimes know as a patch panel. For copper cable termination, an opening  16  for standard rack mountable patch panel  18  is provided. For fiber optic termination, an opening  20  for a standard fiber optic adaptor patch panel  22  is provided. Both or either of these openings  16 ,  20  are filled with the appropriate patch panel or filled with a blanking panel  24  to permit the user to incorporate the panel or panels of their choice.  FIGS. 3 and 4  show the equipment housing  14  includes AC opening  26  and mounting holes  28  to receive an electrical duplex receptacle  30  for AC electrical power and junction box  32  to receive power cabling to the receptacle  30 , as shown in  4 . Knockouts  34  in the equipment housing  14  can be used to attach conduit clamps for situations where cabling is brought into the equipment housing  14  by way of conduit. Therefore, the provided openings  16 ,  20 ,  26  in the equipment housing  14  are either filled with the appropriate cable termination assembly or filled with a blanking panel  24  by the user to preserve the integrity of the equipment housing  14 . 
       FIGS. 5-6  show the install of the standard rack mountable patch panel  18 , the standard fiber optic adaptor panel  22  and multiple pieces of rack mountable equipment  36  attached to the equipment mounting brackets  38 . The equipment mounting brackets  38  shown in  FIG. 3  include the option to be mounted to the equipment housing  14  in various locations to match with the rack mountable equipment  36 . The mounting of the equipment mounting brackets  38  can incorporate numerous adjustable features that permit the equipment mounting brackets  38  to be positioned forward and backward within the equipment housing  14 . Examples of the adjustable features can be as simple as several mounting holes to receive screws to being as complicated as rails with slots to receive tabs from the equipment mounting brackets  38 . When the equipment  36  is installed into the equipment housing  14 , as shown in  FIG. 6 , copper cables  40  can be interconnected from the patch panel  18  to the equipment  36  and fiber cables  42  can be connected from the fiber adaptor panel  22  to the equipment  36 . The equipment  36  can be plugged into the electrical receptacle  30 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the equipment mounting brackets  38  include the capability of inverse mounting the patch panel  18 , by receiving and securing a patch panel  18  on the top of the equipment mounting brackets  38 .  FIG. 8  shows a tab on the equipment mounting brackets  38  that includes a threaded hole  44 . Screws  46  are shown in  FIG. 8  that are used to mount the patch panel  18  to the top of the equipment mounting brackets  38  using the holes  48  of the patch panel  18  and the threaded holes  44  of the equipment mounting brackets  38 . This allows the patch panel  18  to be screwed in place to the top of the equipment mounting brackets  38 . The patch panel inverse mounting feature permits the user to temporarily remove the patch panel  18  from the patch panel opening  16 . The user can then invert the patch panel  18  and attach the patch panel  18  to the equipment mounting brackets  38 . Commonly, the cables are attached to the patch panel  18  by “punching” the cable into a receptacle in the patch panel  18 , using a punch down tool. This procedure, called “punching down” firmly fastens the cable to the patch panel receptacles. Punch down requires that the patch panel receptacles be clearly visible to the user and that the patch panel  18  is firmly attached to something so that that cables can be properly punched in to the receptacles. With the patch panel  18  in this secured inverted position as shown in  FIGS. 7-8 , the user can easily attach cables to the patch panel  18 , as compared to when the patch panel  18  is mounted in the normal position in the equipment housing  14  and pointing into the ceiling space. By inversely mounting the patch panel  18  onto the inverse mounting features of the equipment mounting brackets  38 , the patch panel receptacles are more clearly visible to the user, and the cables can be successfully punched down into the patch panel  18 , or otherwise serviced by the user. After the patch panel  18  is service, the patch panel  18  can then be detached from the inverse mounting feature of the equipment mounting brackets  38  and the attached cables pushed through the opening  16 . Then the patch panel  18  can be reattached to the equipment housing  14  in normal position of the patch panel  18 . 
     Cable management features  50  can be mounted to the equipment housing  14 , as shown in  FIG. 9 , to provide stress relief to cables which reside in the air handling space and are terminated on the patch panel  18 . As described earlier, cables are “punched down” into receptacles in the patch panel  18 , then the cables are fed through the patch panel opening  16  in the back of the equipment housing  14 , and the patch panel  18  is attached to the equipment housing  14  over the opening  16 . The cables now exit the back of the equipment housing  18 . In order to avoid damage to the cables by stressing, crushing or bending, the cables can be fastened to or looped around a cable management feature  50 . The cable management feature  50  is a bar or bracket designed to fasten to the back of the patch panel  18  or equipment housing  14 . The cable management feature  50  is positioned such that cables connected to the back of the patch panel  18  can be fastened to or looped around the cable management feature  50 , thereby helping to avoid damage to the cable connector or cable itself. This cable management feature  50  may also apply to wherever cables or wires terminate into the equipment housing  14 . The patch panels  18  and connector panels  22  affixed to the equipment housing  14  create a sealed barrier between the air-handling space above the ceiling and the work area below the ceiling to preserve the integrity of the suspended ceiling system. This is important for separating the environmental airflow of the workspace environment and the plenum space above the drop ceiling. It may is also important for maintaining the burn rating of the ceiling system. 
     It is desirable to cool the enclosed equipment passively. Fans within the telecommunications enclosure  10  or side walls of the telecommunications enclosure  10  may make undesirable amounts of noise. Fans can be unreliable, as they can fail when covered with dust and therefore require maintenance. An enclosure door  54  is mounted to the equipment housing  14  to form the telecommunications enclosure  10  in order to provide a cooling solution and added space solution. The enclosure door  54  extends into the workspace and is highly perforated to permit air mixing within the telecommunications enclosure  10 . The enclosure door  54  is shown with perforated angled sidewalls  56  and a perforated face  58 . 
     The equipment  36  is accessed within the telecommunications enclosure  10  by opening the enclosure door  54 . Use of the enclosure door  54  removes the necessity to access the equipment  36  from the air handling space side of the ceiling, thereby mitigating dust and infection spread in clean environments. The enclosure door  54  being perforated allows for passage of air to mix through and around the equipment  36  mounted in the equipment housing  14  without the use of fans. The enclosure door  54  is typically perforated in the range of 30 to 50 percent, meaning the perforations comprise 30 to 50 percent of the surface area of the enclosure door  54 . The angled sidewalls  56  reduce the weight of the enclosure door  54 , while providing strength and stiffness to such a large perforated area. The angled sidewalls  56  can reduce the force of impacts and improves air-mixing by providing a pass thru for air to flow from one side of the enclosure door  54  to the other side. The perforations are preferred over louvers and ventilation slots as the highly perforated door will permit better passive air mixing than the louvers would. Although circular perforations are shown, perforation of other shapes could be used. The perforations also permit some visibility to the equipment  36  contained within. The enclosed equipment  36  is cooled by passive air mixing though the highly perforated enclosure door  54  as it extends into the workspace. The enclosed equipment  36  generally has an internal fan, which moves air in and out of the equipment. The air is generally moved in one side of the equipment  36  and then out a side opposite the side that the air entered. 
     The perforated enclosure door  54  aids to prevent overheating of the enclosed equipment  36 . Extending the enclosure door  54  into the workspace allows the size of the equipment housing  14  that extends into the air-handling space to be minimized, as a portion of the equipment  36  also extends into the area of the enclosure door  54 . This provides more depth to the telecommunications enclosure  10 . The equipment mounting brackets  38  positions the equipment  36  substantially within the depth of the enclosure door  54 . As much as one-half of the depth of the telecommunications enclosure  10  is provided by the enclosure door  54 , the other half is in the equipment housing  14 . This helps to minimize the penetration of the telecommunications enclosure  10  into the plenum space. Air circulation is created by the internal fan of the equipment  36  that draws in air from one side of the enclosure door  54  and exhausts the air out another side of the enclosure door  54 . Thus, the equipment&#39;s internal cooling fan is able provide the air circulation within the telecommunications enclosure  10 . All of the air circulation is comprised of air drawn from the workspace and not air from the air handling space above the suspended ceiling. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the enclosure door  54  is shown to be hinged and locked to allow restricted, but convenient, access to the enclosed telecommunications equipment  36  from the workspace. In  FIG. 4 , a lock mechanism cover  60  is designed to prevent tampering with lock  62  from the exterior. Because the enclosure door  54  may be faceted with angled sidewalls  56  as shown, it is desirable to have the lock  62  on the flange  12  of the equipment housing  14 . With the lock  62  in the flange  12 , it is possible to tamper with the lock  62  unless the lock  62  is protected by a lock mechanism cover  60 . This lock mechanism cover  60  is designed to be permanently affixed to the flange  12  to mitigate tampering with the lock  62 . In  FIG. 7 , a gas spring  64  is used to assist and control the opening of the enclosure door  54  and prevents the enclosure door  54  from swinging open when unlocked. When mounted in the ceiling, an unlocked enclosure door  54  will naturally swing open due to gravity. The gas spring  64  controls and slows the opening of the enclosure door  54 . When the enclosure door  54  is initially unlocked, the gas spring  64  keeps the enclosure door  54  shut and provides resistance to the enclosure door  54  opening such that the user must manually apply force to open the enclosure door  54 . Once the enclosure door  54  has been opened beyond 45°, the gas spring  64  provides less resistance and permits the enclosure door  54  to open to the 90° position. The gas spring  64  then holds the door open at a 90° angle from the equipment housing  14 . When the user wants to close the enclosure door  54 , the gas spring  64  provides some resistance, but when the enclosure door  54  is nearly shut, the gas spring  64  will draw the enclosure door  54  closed. The gas spring  64  could be replaced by other opening resistance mechanisms, such as a door stay torsion hinge. 
       FIG. 6  shows an interior light strip  66  installed in the telecommunications enclosure  10 . The light strip  66  permits easier maintenance of installed equipment and cabling. The strip light  66  may be powered by the internal AC power or an additional source. The light strip  66  may be an incandescent or solid state lighting which provides enough light for the user to effectively work within the telecommunications enclosure  10 . The light strip  66  may be turned on by the user with a user activated switch or may turn on automatically when the enclosure door  54  is opened using a door activated switch. 
     The telecommunications enclosure  10  is mounted within the ceiling grid work  68 , as shown in  FIG. 10 . The telecommunications enclosure  10  should be supported by support wires or rods attached to the equipment housing  14  and should not be dependent on the ceiling tile grid work to support the entire weight of telecommunications enclosure  10 .  FIGS. 4-6  and  9 - 10  show grid wire tabs  70  used to support the equipment housing  14  from the structural support system of the building. This so that the entire weight of the telecommunications enclosure  10  is not on the ceiling tile grid work. Supporting grid wires  72  are attached to the grid wire tabs  70  to provide additional support. 
     When the telecommunications enclosure  10  is installed into the ceiling tile grid work, the telecommunications enclosure  10 , along with the ceiling tiles  74 , effectively preserves the barrier between the air handling space  76  above the ceiling, and the workspace  78  below the ceiling. The ceiling system fire integrity is preserved using the telecommunications enclosure. The equipment  36  is effectively moved into the workspace  78 , and removed from the undesirable environment of the air handling space  76 . Since the equipment  36  is substantially within the work space  78 , and sealed-off from the air handling space  76 , the equipment  36  need not be plenum rated, and the depth of the equipment housing  14  is minimized, simplifying installation. The equipment  36  can be accessed by authorized users from the work space  78  without penetrating the air handling space. The enclosed equipment  36  is cooled by passive air mixing though the highly perforated enclosure door  54  in the workspace  78 . The equipment mounting brackets  38  position the equipment  36  largely within the depth of the enclosure door  54 , permitting the air circulation created by the internal equipment fan to draw air in from one of the angled sidewalls  56  or the perforated face  58  and exhaust the air out through one of angled sidewalls  56 . The number of rack mountable telecommunications or networking components which can be installed in the equipment housing  14  is only restricted by how deep a penetration into the air-handling space  76 , or work space  78 , or both, is permitted or desired by the design of the equipment housing  14 , especially the enclosure door  54 . 
     It is envisioned that the telecommunications enclosure  10  as described above could be installed into an opening in a wall. Whereby, the equipment housing  14  would be extend into the interior of the wall similar to the air handling space  76  and the enclosure door  54  along with the enclosed equipment  36  would extend into the work space  78 . While different embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to the embodiments could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements are illustrative only and are not limiting as to the scope of the invention that is to be given the full breadth of any and all equivalents thereof.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7