Ventilated housing and assembly

Abstract

A ventilated housing for accommodating one or more components comprises opposed first and second-spaced apart end portions. An air barrier extends at least partially between the first and second end portions for limiting movement of air inside the housing and defining an upper or lower surface of the housing. A first part of the air barrier proximate the first end portion is positioned at a level below the level of a second part of the air barrier proximate the second end portion. An inlet is defined for admitting air into the housing and an outlet is defined for discharging air from the housing. An ventilated housing assembly comprises first and second housings with an angled space between a lower air barrier of the first housing and an upper air barrier of the second housing.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to ventilated housings and ventilated housing assemblies. BACKGROUND [0002] Existing convection cooled units for rack-mounted communication equipment typically leave a horizontal space between shelves for an air cushion and / or baffle units and / or cable management units. Typically, convection cooled units have a box-shaped cool air intake on the bottom and a box-shaped hot air exhaust on the top. If two such units are stacked without a space between them, the hot air radiating from the bottom unit heats up the air in the cool air intake of the upper unit possibly resulting in the upper unit overheating. [0003] Cable management in systems, such as telecommunication systems, is normally single-function and requires additional vertical space to ensure that the cables do not hinder the air intake and outlets of convection cooled units within the systems. For example, it is desirable to avoid passing the cables in front of the co...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] Embodiments of the invention that include the element have the advantage of being able to integrate both an air baffle and cable management all within the height of the shelf, thus saving valuable rack space. As well, in rack mounted systems according to this embodiment, cables may be dressed to the front or to the rear of the housings. For example, in designs where the cables are connected at the front of a device, the cables may dress up and over the cable management devices. They can then be routed to the right or left or both for front dressing. For rear dressing, the cables dress up and route to one side and then to the rear through a channel on the side of the element or cable management assembly.

[0013] Advantageously, the slope of the upper and lower air barriers in aspects of the present invention allows for saving of vertical space over the prior art convection cooled systems when ventilated housings are stacked. The second part of the upper air barrier of one stacked housing may be at a level at or above the level of the first part of the lower air barrier of the housing above the one stacked housing. Thus, there may be an vertical overlap of the air space between the upper and lower units and the air barriers of the units. Alternatively, the same amount of total space may be used as with traditional stacked systems while achieving a greater air space between each housing. An improved convection cooled product reduces the requirements for forced air systems, which require fan and filter maintenance.

Problems solved by technology

If two such units are stacked without a space between them, the hot air radiating from the bottom unit heats up the air in the cool air intake of the upper unit possibly resulting in the upper unit overheating.

Additionally, the cable management systems available do not always accommodate both front and rear dressing of cables within industry standards.

One solution is to leave one rack unit of space between units to overcome this preheating and allow for proper fiber management, but this arrangement takes up valuable space and therefore possibly results in loss of potential revenue.

This solution also takes up additional vertical rack space with associated revenue loss.

Units cooled using forced air solutions cost more, take up more rack space and require more maintenance than convection cooling solutions.

The fans in such forced air systems are bulky and require regular maintenance.

Furthermore, if the fan is not working, the unit can not be operated.

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