Adapter card for storage device

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses an adapter card for a storage device, comprising a baseboard arranged to support an Open Compute Project mezzanine card in the storage device; a connecting portion coupled to the baseboard and arranged to be connected to the storage device; and an adapter portion coupled to the baseboard and comprising a slot for receiving a first interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the Chinese invention patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on April 17, 2017, with application number 201710250230.7 and invention name “An adapter card for storage devices”. Technical Field

[0002] Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of storage, and more particularly, to an adapter card used in a storage device. Background Art

[0003] The Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine cards are designed to provide industry-standard hardware to reduce costs, with clear form factors, functions, and pins. As high-density input / output (I / O) cards, OCP mezzanine cards are widely used in the server industry. However, there are still many storage device racks that do not have OCP mezzanine card interfaces, so OCP mezzanine cards cannot be directly applied to the racks of these storage devices. Summary of the invention

[0004] One aspect of the present disclosure provides an adapter card for a storage device. The adapter card includes a base plate arranged to support an open computing project (OCP) mezzanine card in the storage device; a connection portion coupled to the base plate and arranged to connect with the storage device; and an adapter portion coupled to the base plate and including a slot for receiving a first interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card.

[0005] In one embodiment, in the above-mentioned adapter card, the substrate has an opening, and the opening is formed in the middle of one side of the substrate corresponding to the adapter portion.

[0006] In one embodiment, the adapter card further includes a frame that at least partially surrounds the substrate.

[0007] In one embodiment, in the above-mentioned adapter card, the frame includes a panel, and the panel includes a receiving portion suitable for accommodating the second interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card.

[0008] In one embodiment, the adapter card further includes a locking portion that is operated to lock the frame on the storage device or unlock the frame from the storage device.

[0009] In one embodiment, in the above adapter card, the connection portion and the first interface portion comply with the same Peripheral Component Express (PCE) protocol.

[0010] In one embodiment, in the above-mentioned adapter card, the partition is arranged parallel to the first end.

[0011] In one embodiment, in the above-mentioned adapter card, the connecting portion is arranged on a first side of the substrate and extends out of the substrate from the first side, and the first side is parallel to the panel; and the adapter portion is arranged on a second side of the substrate perpendicular to the first side.

[0012] In one embodiment, in the above-mentioned adapter card, the OCP mezzanine card is detachably coupled to the substrate via a buckle.

[0013] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides an input / output (I / O) card. The I / O card includes an Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine card; and a riser card according to the foregoing.

[0014] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing the aforementioned riser card.

[0015] Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

[0016] It should be understood that the disclosure part is not intended to identify the key or important features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will become more easily understood through the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in an exemplary and non-limiting manner, in which:

[0018] Figure 1 A perspective schematic diagram showing an adapter card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card not installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 2 A perspective schematic diagram showing an adapter card and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 3 A perspective schematic diagram showing another angle of the riser card and the OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 4 A top view showing a riser card and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 5 A side view showing a riser card and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0023] Figure 6A schematic block diagram of circuitry on a substrate that can be used to implement the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the various exemplary embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the description of these embodiments is only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and further implement the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. It should be noted that similar or identical reference numerals may be used in the figures where feasible, and similar or identical reference numerals may represent similar or identical functions. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods described herein may be adopted without departing from the principles of the present disclosure described herein.

[0025] As used herein, the term "including" and its various variations may be understood as open-ended terms, which mean "including but not limited to". The term "based on" may be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" may be understood as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" may be understood as "at least one other embodiment".

[0026] As a high-density input / output (I / O) card, OCP mezzanine cards are now more and more widely used in the server field, and their functions are also increasing. However, many storage device racks do not support OCP mezzanine cards. Therefore, when designing I / O cards for these storage devices, it is necessary to fully design the I / O cards to achieve various functions. Doing so will increase the time cost and economic cost accordingly.

[0027] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an adapter card for a storage device, which can adapter an OCP mezzanine card to form a new I / O card, so that it can be applied to some storage devices (e.g., dedicated or specific storage devices) that cannot directly use OCP mezzanine cards.

[0028] The following will be combined Figures 1 to 6 A riser card structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail. Figure 1 A perspective schematic diagram showing an adapter card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card not installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 2 A perspective schematic diagram showing an adapter card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 3 A perspective schematic diagram showing another angle of installation of an adapter card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 4A top view showing an adapter card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 5 A side view showing a riser card for a storage device and an OCP mezzanine card installed together according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and Figure 6 A main wiring diagram of a substrate of an adapter card for a storage device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0029] like Figure 1 As shown, in general, the adapter card for a storage device described herein includes a substrate 101, a connecting portion 102 and an adapter portion 103. The substrate 101 can support an OCP mezzanine card 200 in a storage device. The storage device here can be a rack, a frame or a server, etc. The substrate 101 includes a circuit to electrically connect the connecting portion 102 and the adapter portion 103. The connecting portion 102 is connected to a corresponding position of the substrate 101 and can be connected to the storage device. The adapter portion 103 is connected to another corresponding position of the substrate 101 and has a slot 104 that can allow the interface portion (hereinafter referred to as the first interface portion) of the OCP mezzanine card to be inserted.

[0030] In this way, while fully utilizing the existing OCP mezzanine card functions, additional functions such as independent board power switch and monitoring of the heat dissipation status of the I / O card can be integrated on the adapter card 100 according to user needs. In addition, through such a design, flexible configuration of the I / O card is achieved and the time to market of new products is greatly shortened. In addition, the relevant manufacturing and R&D costs are correspondingly reduced.

[0031] In some embodiments, the circuit on the substrate 101 may be provided in the form of a circuit board. Furthermore, the circuit board may be mounted on the substrate 101 or may be integrated into the substrate 101. In the case where the circuit board is integrated into the substrate 101, the circuit board may be only a part of the substrate 101, or the entire substrate 101 may be the circuit board. Figure 6 In the schematic electrical connection diagram shown, the circuit may include a temperature sensor and / or a control module for monitoring the heat dissipation of the I / O card. In some embodiments, the circuit board may also integrate a reset module implemented by an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). In some embodiments, the circuit board may also implement some user-defined functions described above and advanced features such as hot plugging.

[0032] In some embodiments, the connection portion 102 has a plug-in portion (not shown), which can be installed in a through hole reserved in the substrate 101 and capable of conducting electricity. The installation method can be soldering or other common connection methods in the art that make two parts conductive. Of course, in some embodiments, the electrical connection method between the connection portion 102 and the substrate 101 can also be other electrical connection methods in the art. In some embodiments, the connection portion 102 has an appearance that can be plugged into a storage device. For example, Figure 1 As shown, the connection part 102 has a "cube" shape and can be used for a small I / O card connection part (also called a SLIC interface). The connection part 102 as a SLIC interface has a small size, so a high density of such SLIC interfaces can be arranged in a limited card space to achieve a desired data transmission rate. It should be noted that the SLIC interface is only for illustration, and the present disclosure does not intend to limit the specific shape of the connection part 102, but the corresponding connection part 102 can be selected according to the storage device. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, the adapter 103 has a flat or long strip shape to receive the first interface portion of the OPC mezzanine card. The adapter 103 can be connected to the substrate 101 in the same connection manner as the connection portion 102.

[0033] In some embodiments, Figure 1 As shown, the substrate 101 has an opening 108. The opening 108 is formed in the middle of the substrate 101 corresponding to the adapter portion 103. The opening 108 is arranged in such a way that after the OCP mezzanine card 200 is plugged into the adapter card 100, the main heat generating part of the OCP mezzanine card 200 can be located at the opening 108. Therefore, the arrangement of the opening 108 can be beneficial to the heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card 200. At the same time, the material cost of the substrate 101 and the overall weight of the adapter card can also be reduced. Figure 1 In the embodiment shown, the opening 108 is rectangular. Of course, it should be understood that the opening 108 may also be in any other suitable shape, such as circular, elliptical, polygonal or irregular shape, etc. In addition, the size of the opening 108 may also be adjusted as needed.

[0034] In some embodiments, Figure 1-Figure 3 As shown, the riser card 100 further includes a frame 105. The frame 105 can at least partially surround the substrate 101. Figure 1 In the illustrated embodiment, the frame 105 partially surrounds the substrate 101 in a three-sided surrounding manner. The substrate 101 is mounted on the frame. The mounting method can adopt a common connection method in the art, such as screw connection, gluing or riveting, etc. One side of the substrate 101 where the connecting portion 102 is located is not surrounded, so that the connecting portion 102 can be plugged into the storage device. Such a setting method will also be conducive to heat dissipation.

[0035] In some embodiments, Figure 1-Figure 3 As shown, the frame 105 may include a panel 106. The panel 106 is located on a side opposite to the connecting portion 102. The panel 105 also includes a receiving portion 107 to accommodate the second interface portion 202 of the OCP mezzanine card 200. The second interface portion 202 is generally used to plug in an interface of an external device. After the adapter card 100 is plugged into the storage device, the panel 106 is generally facing outward. Therefore, the second interface portion 202 also faces outward to facilitate plugging the interface of the external device into the second interface portion 202. The receiving portion 107 is set at a corresponding position according to the position of the second interface portion 202. Figure 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the receiving portion 107 is disposed at the lower portion of the panel 106 near the substrate, has a width substantially equal to half the panel height, and has a substantially rectangular structure. A heat dissipation port 109 is provided at the upper portion of the receiving portion 107 on the panel 106 to allow cold air outside the adapter card 100 to enter the adapter card 100 for heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card 200 and the substrate 101. Figure 1 In the embodiment of the present invention, the heat dissipation opening 109 has a plurality of square holes. It should be understood that the heat dissipation opening 109 may also adopt any other ventilated structure, such as a grid or a plurality of holes of other shapes.

[0036] In some embodiments, Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the panel 106 can be fixed to the frame 105 by fasteners. This makes it easy to maintain or replace the panel 106 and the frame 105. The panel 106 and the frame 105 can be made of different materials. For example, in some embodiments, the panel 106 can be made of a metal material such as aluminum alloy or stainless steel, and the material used to make the frame 105 can be the same or different. In some embodiments, the frame 105 and the panel 106 can be integrally formed or made separately and then connected together by riveting or other connection methods.

[0037] In some embodiments, Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the riser card 100 may include a latch 108. The latch 108 can lock the frame 105 on the storage device or unlock it from the storage device. Figure 1-Figure 2In the illustrated embodiment, the locking portion 108 includes a handle 110, a slider 111, and a pull rod 112. The slider 111 and the pull rod 112 are an integral structure or the pull rod 112 is fixed to the slider 111. The pull rod 112 extends from the panel 106 to the inside of the frame 105, and has a wedge-shaped structure 114 at the end located inside the frame 105. The wedge-shaped structure 114 cooperates with a locking portion 115 located on the side wall of the frame 105. In response to the user's operation, the slider 111 can move inside the handle 110, thereby driving the pull rod 112 and the wedge-shaped structure 114 to move in a direction perpendicular to the panel 105. Figure 3 As shown, during the movement, the inclined surface of the wedge structure 114 can drive the limiter 116 on the locking portion 115 to switch between the locked position and the unlocked position. Therefore, when the user pulls the slider 111 outward, the wedge structure 114 can switch the limiter 116 to the unlocked position, so that the frame 105 can be taken out of the storage. In some embodiments, the locking portion 108 also includes a reset member (not shown), which can enable the slider to slide to the initial position when the user stops pulling the slider 111 so that the limiter 116 switches to the locked position, thereby preventing the frame 105 from being accidentally taken out of the storage device. In some embodiments, the locking structure 108 also includes an intermediate position. After the user stops pulling the slider 111, the slider will stop at the intermediate position under the action of the reset member. In the intermediate position, the limiter 116 is in an unlocked state, so that the user can perform further operations on the unlocked frame 105 and the adapter card 100. It should be understood that, in some embodiments, the locking portion 108 may also adopt other structures to lock the frame 105 on the storage device or unlock it from the storage device.

[0038] In some embodiments, Figure 6 As shown, the connection portion 102 and the first interface portion can follow the same peripheral component interconnect express PCIe protocol. Since the PCIe bus has a high data transfer rate and scalability, storage devices based on the PCIe protocol are becoming more and more common. It should be noted that the PCIe protocol here is also only exemplary, and the present disclosure is not intended to limit the specific protocol or interface specification that the connection portion 102 or the first interface portion needs to follow. Those skilled in the art should understand that other protocols or interface specifications such as SAS, interface bus (IB) should fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0039] In some embodiments, Figure 1-Figure 3As shown, the connection portion 102 is disposed on the first side 130 of the substrate 101 that is not surrounded by the frame 105, that is, the first side 130 that is parallel to the panel 106 and opposite to the panel 106, and can extend outward from the first side 103 to facilitate plugging the connection portion 102 of the adapter card 100 into the corresponding interface of the storage device. The adapter portion 103 that needs to be connected to the first interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card is disposed on the second side 131 that is perpendicular to the first side 130. The second side 131 is adjacent to the side wall of the frame 105 where the locking portion 115 is located. The second side is perpendicular to the panel 106.

[0040] In some embodiments, Figure 1 As shown, the substrate 101 may be provided with a buckle 113, and the OCP mezzanine card is detachably connected to the substrate 101 through the buckle 113. The buckle 113 is provided in the middle of the substrate 101 and is engaged with the side of the OCP adapter card 200 opposite to the second interface portion 202. A positioning pin (not shown) may also be provided on the side of the substrate 101 adjacent to the panel 106 for positioning the OCP mezzanine card 200. In some embodiments, the buckle 113 may be detachably connected to the substrate 101. In some embodiments, the adapter card 100 further includes a mounting hole (not shown) provided on the substrate 101. A bolt hole 203 for allowing a bolt to pass is also provided at a corresponding position on the OCP mezzanine card 200. The OCP mezzanine card 200 is fixed to the adapter card 100 by the bolts cooperating with the mounting holes 113. It should be understood that in some embodiments, other ways of detachably connecting the OCP mezzanine card 200 to the adapter card 100 may also be adopted, such as a pin-hole connection or a friction connection, etc.

[0041] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown in detail by examples, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above examples are intended to be exemplary only and not to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments can be modified without departing from the scope and essence of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

[0042] In the specification and the following claims, unless the context requires otherwise, the terms "comprise" and "comprising" will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements or groups of elements but not the exclusion of any other elements or groups of elements.

[0043] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an admission that such prior art constitutes common general knowledge.

[0044] It should be understood that the following claims are only provisional claims and examples of possible claims, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims to any future patent applications based on this application. Elements may be added or deleted from the exemplary claims at a later date to further define or redefine the disclosure.

Claims

1. A riser card for incorporating the functionality of an Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine card into a storage device, comprising: frame; a baseboard mounted on the frame and arranged to have an Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine card removably mounted thereon, the OCP mezzanine card being independent of the baseboard mounted to the frame, wherein the frame at least partially surrounds the baseboard; an adapter on the substrate, the adapter comprising a slot for receiving the first interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card; and The connecting portion on the substrate is configured to be connected to the storage device, and the substrate includes an interconnection portion between the connecting portion and the adapter portion to provide data exchange between the OCP mezzanine card and the storage device.

2. The adapter card according to claim 1, wherein the substrate has an opening, and when the OCP mezzanine card is inserted into the adapter card, a heat generating component of the OCP mezzanine card is located at the opening, and the opening is conducive to heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card. 3 . The riser card of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises a panel, the panel comprising an opening for receiving a second interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card, the second interface portion receiving an external device.

4. An adapter card according to claim 3, wherein the substrate is elongated and rectangular and has two ends and two sides, wherein (1) the panel is located at one end of the substrate and the connecting portion is arranged at the other end of the substrate and extends outward from the other end, and (2) the adapter portion is arranged on one side of the substrate adjacent to the corresponding portion of the frame.

5. The adapter card according to claim 3, further comprising: A latch is operable to lock the frame onto the storage device or unlock the frame from the storage device. 6 . The riser card of claim 1 , wherein the connection portion and the first interface portion comply with the same Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) protocol. 7 . The riser card according to claim 1 , configured so that the OCP mezzanine card is detachably fixed thereto via a removable buckle.

8. The riser card of claim 1, wherein the baseboard comprises a power switch for controlling power supply to the OCP mezzanine card and a circuit for monitoring heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card.

9. An apparatus for incorporating a function into a storage device, comprising: an Open Compute Project OCP mezzanine card configured and operative to provide said functionality; as well as Riser card, including: frame; a baseboard mounted on the frame and arranged to have an Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine card removably mounted thereon, the OCP mezzanine card being independent of the baseboard mounted to the frame, wherein the frame at least partially surrounds the baseboard; an adapter on the substrate, the adapter comprising a slot for receiving the first interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card; and The connecting portion on the substrate is configured to be connected to the storage device, and the substrate includes an interconnection portion between the connecting portion and the adapter portion to provide data exchange between the OCP mezzanine card and the storage device.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the substrate has an opening, and when the OCP mezzanine card is inserted into the adapter card, a heat generating component of the OCP mezzanine card is located at the opening, and the opening is conducive to heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the frame comprises a panel, the panel comprising an opening for receiving a second interface portion of the OCP mezzanine card, the second interface portion receiving an external device.

12. A device according to claim 11, wherein the substrate is elongated and rectangular and has two ends and two sides, wherein (1) the panel is located at one end of the substrate and the connecting portion is arranged at the other end of the substrate and extends outward from the other end, and (2) the transition portion is arranged on one side of the substrate adjacent to the corresponding part of the frame.

13. The device according to claim 11, wherein the adapter card further comprises: A latch is operable to lock the frame onto the storage device or unlock the frame from the storage device.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the connection portion and the first interface portion comply with the same Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) protocol.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the OCP mezzanine card is detachably secured to the riser card via a removable clip.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the baseboard comprises a power switch for controlling power to the OCP mezzanine card and a circuit for monitoring heat dissipation of the OCP mezzanine card.

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