Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2009137386A1/en
Timestamp: 2019-09-18 19:01:11
Document Index: 40305008

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 61', 'Application No. 12', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 12', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 12']

WO2009137386A1 - Drawer arrangement with rack and pinion - Google Patents
WO2009137386A1
WO2009137386A1 PCT/US2009/042671 US2009042671W WO2009137386A1 WO 2009137386 A1 WO2009137386 A1 WO 2009137386A1 US 2009042671 W US2009042671 W US 2009042671W WO 2009137386 A1 WO2009137386 A1 WO 2009137386A1
PCT/US2009/042671
2008-05-05 Priority to US61/126,671 priority
2009-03-06 Priority to US12/381,161 priority
2009-05-04 Application filed by Adc Telecommunications, Inc. filed Critical Adc Telecommunications, Inc.
2009-11-12 Publication of WO2009137386A1 publication Critical patent/WO2009137386A1/en
A cable management panel including chassis, a sliding drawer, and a rack and pinion arrangement. The rack and pinion arrangement including a first length of track located on an interior surface of the chassis, a second length of track provided on a drawer slide, and a gear that engage both the track and the second track to control the movement of a sliding radius limiter mounted to the drawer.
This application is being filed on 04 May 2009, as a PCT International Patent application in the name of ADC Telecommunications, Inc., a U.S. national corporation, applicant for the designation of all countries except the U.S., and Dennis Krampotich, a citizen of the U.S., and Ryan Kostecka, a citizen of the U.S., applicants for the designation of the U.S. only, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61/126,671 filed on 05 May 2008 and U.S. Utility Patent Application Serial No. 12/381,161 filed on 06 March 2009.
Access to the interior of such drawers is needed for purposes of installation, maintenance, and repairs, for example. When sliding a drawer from a closed position to an open position, unnecessary or excessive bending of the fiber optic cables is undesirable. Bending of the cables and optical fibers can cause attenuation, loss of signal strength, and breakage. There is a continued need in the art for better cable management devices and arrangements to address concerns regarding reliability and ease of use of cable management arrangements. Summary
The present invention relates to a cable management panel having a chassis, a drawer, and an arrangement for controlling the movement of a radius limiter located at a side of the drawer. In one aspect, the arrangement for controlling the radius limiter movement is a rack and pinion arrangement including first and second tracks and a gear. In another aspect, one of the tracks is formed on a slide that provides sliding movement between the drawer and the chassis. In yet another aspect, the first and second tracks have limited lengths that permit various sliding components of the panel to re-position or correction misalignments. A variety of examples of desirable product features or methods are set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practicing various aspects of the disclosure. The aspects of the disclosure may relate to individual features as well as combinations of features. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only, and are not restrictive of the claimed invention.
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the drawer slide of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is an enlarged, top perspective view of a portion of the cable management panel of FIG. 1, illustrated without a radius limiter for purposes of showing the rack and pinion arrangement;
FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the cable management panel of FIG. 1, illustrated with the rack and pinion arrangement partly exploded; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a gear of the rack and pinion arrangement of FIG. 6, shown in isolation; and
Referring to FIG. 1, a cable management panel or module 10 according to the present invention is shown. The panel 10 includes a frame or chassis 12 having mounting brackets 14. Further details of an example mounting bracket that can be used in accordance with the principles disclosed are described in U.S. Patent No. 7,171,099; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The mounting brackets 14 are used to mount the panel 10 to a telecommunications structure, such as a telecommunications rack, for example. The cable management panel 10 can also be configured for mounting within a cabinet, enclosure, or on other mounting fixtures or framework. While the presently disclosed panel embodiment is illustrated in a horizontal mounting orientation, the panel can also be mounted in a vertical orientation.
Referring still to FIG. 1, the drawer 26 of the cable management panel 10 includes a front 30, a rear 32, a bottom or base 34, and sides 36, 38. The front 30 ofthe drawer 26 is defined by a face panel 39. Front latches 42 are provided at both sides ofthe drawer 26 in the face panel 39 for securing the drawer 26 in the closed position. A rear latch 44 is provided at the rear 32 ofthe drawer for securing the drawer 26 in the open position. Further details of an example rear latch arrangement that can be used in accordance with the principles disclosed are described in U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/072,148, filed March 28, 2008, and U.S. Application No. 12/381,159, filed March 6, 2009; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The face panel 39 of the illustrated drawer defines openings sized for receipt of bulkhead adapter plates 48. Further details of an example bulkhead adapter plate that can be used are described in U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/072,186, filed March 28, 2008, and U.S. Application No. 12/381,162, filed March 6, 2009; which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The present cable management panel 10 accommodates a number of cable routing configurations. The cable routing configurations include cable routings through rear openings 50, 52 and cable routings through the side access openings 24 defined by the chassis 12. The present panel can further include a variety of cable management elements 54 (e.g., cable management structures and distribution components or devices, and including such structures, components or devices mounted to either a drop-in tray or the base 34 of the drawer). Examples of various cable routing configurations, cable management elements, and drop-in trays that can be incorporated into the present cable management panel 10 are described in U.S. Patent Nos. 6,438,310; 6,504,988; 5,497,444; U.S. Publication No. 2007/0031099; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/072,184, filed March 28, 2008; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/126,672, filed May 5, 2008, and U.S.
Application No. 12/381,160, filed on March 6, 2009; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, the present cable management panel 10 includes two drawer slides 28; each located at one of the sides 18 of the chassis 12. Each of the drawer slides 28 includes three slide rails including a first rail 56, a second rail 58, and a center rail 60. The first rail 56 is secured to the drawer 26 (i.e., to horizontal side plate 62 of the drawer 26; see FIGS. 1 and 5, for example), and the second rail 58 is secured to the chassis 12 (i.e., to a bottom 64 of the chassis; see FIGS. 1 and 4, for example). The center rail 60 interconnects the first rail 56 and the second rail 58. In operation, when the drawer 26 is moved relative to the chassis 12, the first rail 56 and the center rail 60 slide relative to the second rail 58. Further details of a similar slide assembly having a three-rail construction are described in U.S. Patent No. 7,171,099; which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in the present cable management panel 10, the first rail 70 formed in an outer side portion 72 of the rail 56. Likewise, the second rail 58 of the drawer slide 28 includes a second linear track 68 having protrusions or teeth 70 formed in an outer side portion 74 of the rail 58. Referring back to FIG. 1, the horizontal side plates 62 to which the first rails 56 of the drawer slides 28 attach each define longitudinal slots 76. The longitudinal slots 76 cooperate with radius limiters 78 located on each side 36, 38 of drawer 26. The radius limiters 78 each have a curved construction 46 that prevents cable exiting or entering the drawer at the sides from bending beyond a minimum bend radius. Further details of example radius limiter constructions that can be used in the present cable management panel are described in U.S. Patent Nos. 6,438,310; 6,504,988; and 7,079,744; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The slots 76 permit the radius limiters 78 to move relative to the drawer 26. In use, the drawer slides 28 facilitate the sliding movement of the drawer relative to the chassis, and further facilitate movement of the radius limiters 78 relative to the sliding movement of the drawer 26. In the illustrated embodiment, the movement of the radius limiters 78 is synchronized; that is, the speed of movement of the radius limiters 78 is related to the speed of movement of the drawer 26. The synchronized movement of the radius limiters 78 accommodates for cable slack and ensures that cables stored within the interior of the drawer 26 do not bend too sharply when the drawer 26 is opened or closed. If the cables were to bend too sharply, loss of signal strength or loss of transmission may occur.
The control arm 130 further has mounting structure 104 constructed to receive a toothed gear 106 of the rack and pinion arrangement 80. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the gear 106 includes stub axels 108 (only one shown). The stub axels 108 are secured within slots 110 of the mounting structure 104 by a snap-fit connection. In the illustrated embodiment, the control arm 130 is configured to selectively mount to the drawer at either the left side 36 or the right side 38. What is meant by "selectively" mount is that the control arm is mountable and operable at both sides 36, 38 of the drawer, and the user may choose at which side the control arm is to be mounted. For example, the mounting structure 104 includes slots 110 on both sides of the control arm 130 for receipt of the gear in a left-side mounting application (shown in FIG. 6) and for receipt of the gear in a right-side mounting application. During use, the stub axels 108 of the gear 106 rotate within the slots 110 of the control arm 130.
The rack and pinion arrangement 80 of the present disclosure has been designed to account for the above misalignments or mismatches due to rough handling or excessive loading. When the gear 106 of the rack and pinion arrangement 80 is engaged with both the track 66 of the slide 28 and the track 112 of the track plate 82, the rails of the slide 28 cannot slide to correct any mismatch or misalignment. Accordingly, the tracks have been particularly designed with a length Ll, L2 (FIGS. 3 and 8) that allow the gear to disengage from one of the tracks 66, 112 to accommodate all the above described alignment corrections.
In particular, when the drawer is fully closed, the gear 106 disengages from the forward end 128 (FIG. 5) of the track 66 of the slide 28. This disengagement in the closed position allows the rails 56, 58, 60 of the slide 28 to readjust or correct their relative positions as previously described. This disengagement in the closed position also allows the radius limiter 78 to re-position itself within the longitudinal slot 76 of the drawer 26.
While the above description relates primarily to the rack and pinion arrangement 80 located at the left side of the present cable management panel 10, it is to be understood that the same rack and pinion arrangement is located at the right side of the panel to control the movement of the radius limiter at the right side. Furthermore, the present rack and pinion arrangement 40 can be selectively mounted adjacent to either one of the open sides 36, 38 of the drawer. As previously described, what is meant by "selectively" mounted is that the arrangement 40 is mountable and operable at both sides 36, 38 of the drawer. For example, the track plate 82 of FIG. 8 is constructed to selectively mount adjacent to or at either the left sidewall 22 (FIG. 1) or the right sidewall (FIG. 6) of the chassis 12. Likewise, the slide 28 of FIG. 2 is constructed to selectively mount adjacent to or at the left open side 36 or the right open side 38 of the drawer. Also as previously described, the gear mounts to the control arm at one of a leftward mounting location and a rightward mounting location, and the control arm is constructed to selectively mount to the left open side 36 or the right open side 38 of the drawer. This universal construction reduces manufacturing costs by eliminating the need to manufacture different left side components and right side components.
1. A cable management panel, comprising: a) a chassis having a top wall, opposite side walls, and a rear wall, the side walls and the rear wall defining side and rear cable access openings; b) a drawer mounted to the chassis, the drawer being configured to slide between an open position and a closed position relative to the chassis, the drawer including a base defining open sides; c) a slide that allows the drawer to slide between the open position and the closed position; d) a sliding radius limiter located at one of the open sides of the drawer; and e) a rack and pinion arrangement, including: i) a first length of track located adjacent to one of the side walls of the chassis; ii) a second length of track provided on the slide; and iii) a gear that engages both the first track and the second track to control the movement of the sliding radius limiter.
2. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the rack and pinion arrangement further includes a control arm, the control arm including a projection to which the sliding radius limiter is attached and mounting structure to which the gear is mounted.
8. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the gear disengages from one of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the open position.
9. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the slide includes a plurality of rails that slide relative to one another, the plurality of rails including a first rail attached to the drawer, a second rail attached to the chassis, and a third rail interconnected between the first rail and the second rail.
10. The panel of claim 9, wherein the relative positions of the rails of the slide can be re-adjust without disassembly of the cable management panel, the readjustment being facilitated by the gear disengaging from one of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the closed position, and by the gear disengaging from the other of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the open position.
12. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the rack and pinion arrangement has only a single gear.
13. The panel of claim 1 , wherein the first length of track is formed on a plate that mounts to an inner surface of the chassis.
15. A cable management panel, comprising: a) a chassis having a top wall, opposite side walls, and a rear wall, the side walls and the rear wall defining side and rear cable access openings; b) a drawer mounted to the chassis, the drawer being configured to slide between an open position and a closed position relative to the chassis, the drawer including a base defining open sides; c) a sliding radius limiter located at one of the open sides of the drawer; and d) a rack and pinion arrangement, including: i) a first length of track; ii) a second length of track; iii) a control arm including a projection that projects above the one open side of the drawer, the sliding radius limiter being attached to the projection; and iv) a single gear carried by the control arm, the gear engaging both the first track and the second track during sliding movement of the drawer to control the relative movement of the sliding radius limiter.
18. The panel of claim 17, wherein the relative positions of the rails of the slide can be re-adjust without disassembly of the cable management panel, the readjustment being facilitated by the gear disengaging from one of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the closed position, and by the gear disengaging from the other of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the open position.
19. The panel of claim 15 , wherein the relative positions of the drawer and the radius limiter can be re-adjust without disassembly of the cable management panel, the re-adjustment being facilitated by the gear disengaging from one of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the closed position, and by the gear disengaging from the other of the first length of track and the second length of track when the drawer is in the open position.
PCT/US2009/042671 2008-05-05 2009-05-04 Drawer arrangement with rack and pinion WO2009137386A1 (en)
US61/126,671 2008-05-05
US12/381,161 2009-03-06
WO2009137386A1 true WO2009137386A1 (en) 2009-11-12
JP2012155289A (en) * 2011-01-28 2012-08-16 Konica Minolta Advanced Layers Inc Liquid crystal display device
Ref document number: 200980116194.9
Ref document number: 09743373
Ref document number: 2722583
Ref document number: 4124/KOLNP/2010
Ref document number: 2009244486
Ref document number: MX/A/2010/012060
Ref document number: 2009743373
Ref document number: PI0912574