Abstract:
Disclosed is a chassis comprising an enclosure, a power supply assembly mounted in the enclosure and a backplane assembly mounted in the enclosure in abutting relationship with the power supply assembly; the backplane assembly having a plurality component connectors mounted thereon and a plurality of stand-off posts protruding therefrom, each of the stand-off posts including a first aperture and being electrically coupled to one of the component connectors; the power supply including a panel with a plurality of electrical contacts disposed thereon, each of the electrical contacts having a second aperture; and a plurality of screws disposed through the first and second apertures for securing the electrical contacts of the power supply to the stand-off posts of the backplane assembly.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/097,739, filed Aug. 24, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to mounting electronic components in a chassis and particularly relates to the mounting of a power supply assembly in an electronic component chassis. 
     2. Description of the Background Art 
     In present day electronic devices that incorporate the use of an internal power supply, the power supply itself is mechanically mounted in the chassis or housing of the device. The electronic connection of the power supply to the electronic components in the device is then typically made through the use of either of an electrical connector or wire connections. Both approaches, however, require the use of “hard wiring” insofar as electrical connectors require the use of wire leads connected to the connector itself and wire connections require the use of wire conductors connecting the power supply to a specific electronic component. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One objective of the present invention is to eliminate the previously described “hard wiring” approaches and instead to allow for direct connection between the power supply and the associated components. As a result of this direct connection, there is less cost involved in the manufacture of the assemblies for the component chassis and construction of the chassis is simplified. 
     The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows in exploded perspective a chassis incorporating the power supply connecting arrangement of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 shows in perspective the side of a backplane assembly which has protruding therefrom a plurality of stand-off posts. 
     FIG. 3 shows in exploded perspective a power supply assembly. 
     FIG. 4 shows a back view of the power supply assembly. 
     FIG. 5 shows in perspective a power supply of the power supply assembly. 
     FIG. 6 shows in perspective the power supply assembly and backplane assembly in abutting relationship. 
     FIG. 7 shows in perspective the underside of the power supply assembly and the backplane assembly. 
     FIG. 8 shows an exploded view in perspective of an encasement for the power supply assembly. 
     FIG. 9 shows a side view of the chassis with the encasement mounted therein. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a power supply connecting arrangement  10  of the present invention implemented in a chassis  12  for electronic components (not shown). It can be seen that the chassis  12  includes a conventional power supply assembly  14 , a backplane assembly  16  and an enclosure  17 . The enclosure  17  has a mainframe  18  and a conventional back compartment  19  containing a fan. The power supply connecting arrangement  10  of the present invention includes power supply mating hardware contained on the rear of the power supply assembly  14  and on the backplane assembly  16 . More specifically, the plurality of output contacts  20  of the power supply assembly  14  are disposed in mating relationship with a plurality of stand-off posts (shown in subsequent figures) of the backplane assembly  16  so as to provide a direct electrical connection between the power supply assembly  14  and the backplane assembly  16  without the need for “hard wiring” described in the Background section. This mating relationship is maintained by a plurality of screws  21  as will be described hereinafter. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the backplane assembly  16  includes a backplane panel  22  and a plurality of stand-off posts  24  mounted on one side of the backplane panel  22 . Each of the stand-off posts  24  comprise a hollow piece containing a first aperture  26  which is centrally positioned along the radial axis of the stand-off post  24  and extends through the backplane panel  22 . As an illustrative example, the preferred embodiment is shown with the stand-off posts  24  comprising four larger diameter cylindrical stand-off posts  28  and six smaller diameter cylindrical stand-off posts  30 . 
     It should be understood that the backplane panel  22 , in a conventional manner, comprises a printed circuit board (“PCB”) having the appropriate traces (not shown) linking various areas of one portion of the panel  22  to other designated areas of the panel  22 . In particular, the panel  22  has traces extending from the locations of the stand-off posts  24  to the appropriate locations where a plurality of component connectors  32  are fixed on the panel  22 . In this manner the panel  22  enables the delivery of power supply to the appropriate components that are attached to the connectors  32 . 
     As shown in FIG. 3, an exploded view of the power supply assembly  14  (previously shown in FIG. 1) includes a conventional off-the-shelf power supply  34 , an upside down U-channel enclosure  36  with the power supply  34  mounted therein by screws  38  and a front panel  40  mounted to the enclosure  36  by screws  42 . The remainder of power supply assembly  14 , such as switch  44 , intermediate panel  46  with a plurality of indicators  48  mounted thereon, first and second plugs  50  and  51 , respectively, and the wiring for these components, also are well known components of conventional power supply assembly designs, are not part of the present invention and will not be described further. The power supply shown in FIG. 3 is an off-the-shelf unit manufactured by Deltron, Inc. and has a model number of M72B2206633-RAL. 
     In FIG. 4 a back view of the power supply assembly  14  is shown. The previously described power supply  34 , enclosure  36  and front panel  40  are shown in this back view. The conventional power supply  34  includes a rear portion  52  having the array of DC output contacts/terminals  20  for providing DC voltages V 1  through V 7 . As will be shown in subsequent FIGURES, there is one power supply contact  20  disposed and configured to abut with each of the stand-off posts shown in FIG.  2 . Each of the contacts  20  includes a centrally disposed, threaded second aperture  56 . As is standard design for power supplies, a plurality of DC output printed circuit boards (PCB&#39;s), for which only the terminal blocks are shown, are mount to L shaped brackets  58  via standoffs (not shown). The first plug  50  is shown having four pins  60 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are ways other than the described power supply assembly in which the power supply may have its contacts disposed in electrical contact with the stand-off posts of the backplane assembly. 
     In FIG. 5 the rear portion  52  of the conventional power supply  34  having the contacts  20  is shown in a perspective view, so as to provide additional detail. The DC output contacts  20  are mounted on the end of the DC PCB&#39;s, which in turn are mounted to the vertical legs  64  of the L shaped brackets  58 . The contacts  20  are PCB mounted right angle terminal blocks  68 . The other leg  66  of the L shaped bracket  58  is mounted to the top of the power supply  34 . In a well known manner, the DC output PCB contains the circuitry necessary to generate the desired DC voltage from a somewhat higher input voltage coming from the main transformer (not shown). Any of many commercially available units having output contacts on the rear portion could be used with the present invention and the power supply  34  shown in the FIGURES is merely illustrative of one such available unit. 
     Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the backplane assembly  16  and power supply assembly  14  are mated together, as they would exist when the two components have been included in chassis. To better illustrate the mating relationship between these two assemblies, the rest of the chassis is not shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The power supply assembly  14  is shown with enclosure  36 , power supply  34  and front panel  40 , as previously described. As best shown in FIG. 7, each stand-off post  24  of the backplane assembly  16  abuts with one of the contacts  20  of the power supply assembly  14 . More specifically, the stand-off posts  24  are arranged and dimensioned to mate with electrical contacts  20  on a rear portion of the power supply assembly  14 . The stand-off posts  24  have predetermined heights or outward extensions from the backplane panel  22  that space the backplane panel  22  from the rear end of the power supply assembly  14 . To secure the backplane panel  22  to the contacts  20 , the screws  21  are inserted through the back side  70  of the backplane panel  22  and through the stand-off posts  24  until they engage with the mating threads of the contacts  20  of the power supply assembly  14 . Hence, the first aperture  26  of one of the stand-off posts  24  is aligned with the second aperture  56  of one of the contacts  20 . In this manner, an electrical connection is established between the array of contacts  20  on the power supply assembly  14  and the array of stand-off posts  24  on the backplane panel  22 . 
     In the preferred embodiment, the stand-off posts  24  are securely mounted on the backplane panel  22 . However, those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many interchangeable variations of this arrangement. For example, the stand-off posts could be securely mounted on the rear portion of the power supply  14  instead of the backplane panel  22 . In our case preferred embodiment, the off-the-shelf power supply  34  has a convenient surface parallel to the backplane panel  22  (contact area on a terminal block). Since the terminal block contact has a threaded-hole to accept a #6 screw, it is possible to install a male-female or male-male standoff into the terminal block. In the preferred embodiment, the inventors chose not to do this, because the standoff could come loose. Instead the present invention uses a swedged spacer (stand-offs  24 ) on the backplane panel  22 —which is a permanent connection that is not going to come loose. Although even less desirable, the standoff-posts or spacers could be un-mounted from both the power supply  34  and the backplane panel  22 , i.e., not integrally attached to either and merely kept in place between the two components by the traversing screws  21 . This approach, although possible, is less desirable because there would be lots of loose hardware that could complicate assembly. 
     In the preferred embodiment, a conductive standoff  24  is used to reduce the IR drop in the connection. The screw  21 , if conductive, could be used to provide an electrical connection, but a conductive standoff  24  is superior. 
     Referring to FIG. 8, an encasement  72  is shown in an exploded view. The encasement  72  includes a top portion  74  and a bottom portion  76 . The bottom portion  76  includes a pair of parallel guides  78  and  80 . A flap  82  forms a front wall to the encasement  72 . The encasement  72  is dimensioned and configured so that the power supply assembly  14  of FIG. 1 slides into the encasement  72  using the guides  78  and  80 . Once the power supply assembly is fully inserted into the encasement  72 , it is secured in place by the screws  21  shown in FIG.  1  and by four front panel screws (not shown) which are inserted into holes  84  of the front panel  40  in FIG.  3 . The power supply is removable therefrom when the screws  21  of FIG.  1  and the front panel screws are unscrewed. The wireless electrical connection is made from the power supply assembly  14  to the backplane assembly  16  with the screws  21 . With respect to FIG. 9, the encasement  72  is shown securely mounted in the enclosure  17 . The encasement  72  is permanently installed into the enclosure  17  to form a cavity for receiving the power supply assembly  14 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are other ways in which the power supply may be mounted in the chassis so that its output contacts will be in contact with the standoff-posts of the backplane assembly. 
     The present invention may be implemented in a number of ways, as will be clear to those skilled in the art. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while this arrangement is preferred, it is not intended to be limiting as other arrangements of the frame are possible.