A network device

Abstract

This application provides a network device, including an optical module, a power management module, an internal power supply, and a housing. The optical module includes at least one data interface for connecting to a data connector to transmit optical signals between the optical module and an external device. The power management module is connected to the internal power supply and includes at least one power supply interface for connecting to a power supply connector. The power management module distributes the total power provided by the internal power supply to the external device connected to the power supply connector. The at least one data interface and the at least one power supply interface are disposed on the front panel of the housing. The network device provided by this application uses a small-sized power supply interface for independent power supply, ensuring that power supply and data transmission functions do not interfere with each other, and simultaneously solving the problem that existing network devices cannot simultaneously transmit data and supply power over long distances.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication electronics, and more particularly to a network device. Background Technology

[0002] Economic development has spurred the emergence of numerous large and medium-sized enterprises. Simultaneously, with the advancement of information technology, the demand for information transmission has become increasingly diversified. Consequently, networks are carrying more and more data and terminal devices, which play a crucial role in scenarios such as office work, production, and security monitoring. The function of a switch is to connect terminal devices such as computers, servers, network printers, network cameras, and Internet Phones (IP), and to interconnect with other network devices such as switches, wireless access points, routers, and network firewalls, thereby constructing a local area network (LAN) and enabling communication between all devices.

[0003] The core device of a local area network (LAN) is the switch, which typically uses a switch that supports power supply to the network cable to achieve both information exchange and power supply functions within the LAN. Because office buildings, production workshops, and industrial parks are generally large, this places new demands on the transmission distance of the LAN.

[0004] Existing switches supporting Power Over Ethernet (PoE) use RJ45 ports for cascading signal transmission and PoE power supply. Their maximum transmission and power supply distance is limited to 100 meters according to the 802.3 Ethernet standard. While some companies offer products supporting distances exceeding 100 meters, these often employ voltage increases, but even these methods cannot exceed 300 meters. When the transmission distance exceeds 100 meters, a primary network relay or aggregation device is required, which limits the network's flexibility, ease of maintenance, and increases network construction costs.

[0005] If fiber optic switches are used, the entire network adopts an all-optical network, with network nodes connected via fiber optic cables. These nodes are powered by local 220V electricity. While the cascading distance can reach 10km or more, it cannot power the terminal devices. Furthermore, signals require electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion at the node devices when entering or leaving the network. Each expansion of device nodes requires high-voltage electrical installations, and the entire network's power supply is a high-voltage system, resulting in poor scalability, hindering unified management, and leading to poor overall network manageability.

[0006] Application content

[0007] This application provides a network device that uses an SFP optical module interface to transmit data and a small-size power supply interface to solve the problem that existing switches cannot simultaneously achieve long-distance data transmission and long-distance power supply.

[0008] This application provides a network device, including an optical module, a power management module, an internal power supply, and a housing, wherein:

[0009] The optical module includes at least one data interface, which is used to connect a data plug to transmit optical signals between the optical module and an external device.

[0010] The power management module is connected to the internal power supply, and the power management module includes at least one power supply interface for connecting a power supply plug. The power management module distributes the total power provided by the internal power supply to the external device connected to the power supply plug.

[0011] The at least one data interface and the at least one power supply interface are disposed on the front panel of the housing.

[0012] In one or more embodiments, the at least one power supply interface and the at least one data interface are arranged in a layered manner on the front panel, and the front panel includes at least one power supply interface layer and at least one data interface layer.

[0013] In one or more embodiments, in the at least one power supply interface layer and the at least one data interface layer, any different power supply interface layer and any different data interface layer are adjacent to each other and form a group of interface layers.

[0014] In one or more embodiments, the front panel includes two sets of interface layers, and the data interface layers in the two sets of interface layers are adjacent to each other.

[0015] In one or more embodiments, a first set number of data interfaces and a second set number of power supply interfaces in each group of interface layers constitute a group of interfaces, and each group of interfaces is respectively connected to the first set number of data plugs and the second set number of power supply plugs fixed by the card slot.

[0016] In one or more embodiments, if the first set quantity is 1 and the second set quantity is 1, then a data interface and a power supply interface in any set of interface layers are adjacent.

[0017] In one or more embodiments, each data plug has an unlocking pull bar on one side; the card holder includes a first predetermined number of first card slots and a second predetermined number of second card slots, each first card slot matching the shape of its fixed data plug, and each second card slot matching the shape of its fixed power supply plug.

[0018] In one or more embodiments, the housing includes an upper snap plate, a lower snap plate, a left snap plate, a right snap plate, an upper and lower snap plate connector, and a rear panel. The number of optical modules is at least one. At least one optical module is mounted on the lower snap plate via an optical cage. The upper snap plate and the lower snap plate are connected by the upper and lower snap plate connector to form the housing with an opening. The front panel includes a first area with a power supply interface layer integrally disposed with the upper snap plate, a second area with two data interface layers disposed as one side of the optical cage, and a third area with another power supply interface layer integrally disposed with the lower snap plate.

[0019] In one or more embodiments, the upper and lower snap-on connectors are connectors or copper cables with current-carrying capacity.

[0020] In one or more embodiments, the data interface employs a small form factor hot-swappable (SFP) interface, and the data plug employs an LC connector.

[0021] The network equipment provided in this application has the following beneficial effects:

[0022] This application provides a network device that, based on an existing optical switch, modifies its internal modules and architecture. It uses a data interface to connect to optical fiber for long-distance data transmission and a separate, small-sized power supply interface, enabling long-distance transmission and power supply to multiple external devices. Furthermore, the use of independent data and power interfaces ensures that the network device's signal transmission and power supply functions do not interfere with each other, resulting in high reliability. Attached Figure Description

[0023] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the optical module and power management module in the network device provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0025] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the power supply interface layer provided in this application embodiment as being on the upper layer of the front panel;

[0026] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram showing the power supply interface layer as provided in the embodiments of this application when it is located on the lower layer of the front panel.

[0027] Figure 4 A schematic diagram illustrating the cross-configuration of the power supply interface layer and data interface layer in an embodiment of this application;

[0028] Figure 5 A front view internal structure diagram of a network device provided in a preferred embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the front panel of a network device in a preferred embodiment provided in this application;

[0030] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the card holder used in a preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0031] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating the shape adaptation of the card slot, data plug, and power plug in a preferred embodiment provided in this application.

[0032] Figure 9 A schematic diagram showing two sets of interfaces in the same vertical direction connected to corresponding plugs via a card holder in a preferred embodiment provided in this application.

[0033] Figure 10 This is a rear-view internal structure diagram of the network device provided in a preferred embodiment of the present application.

[0034] Figure 11 A top view of the network device in a preferred embodiment provided in this application;

[0035] Figure 12 A top view of the front side of the network device in a preferred embodiment provided in this application;

[0036] Figure 13 This is a top view of the rear side of the network device in a preferred embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0037] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0038] Economic development has spurred the emergence of numerous large and medium-sized enterprises. Simultaneously, with the advancement of information technology, the demand for information transmission has become increasingly diversified. Consequently, networks are carrying more and more data and terminal devices, which play a crucial role in scenarios such as office work, production, and security monitoring. The function of a switch is to connect terminal devices such as computers, servers, network printers, network cameras, and IP phones, and to interconnect with other network devices such as switches, wireless access points, routers, and network firewalls, thereby constructing a local area network (LAN) and enabling communication between all devices.

[0039] The core device of a local area network (LAN) is a switch. A LAN switch can establish multiple concurrent connections between its ports. Normally, all ports are not connected. When communication is needed, the switch can connect many ports simultaneously, allowing each pair of ports to transmit data without collisions, as if they had exclusive access to the communication medium. The connection is then closed after communication is complete. Because a shared communication medium is eliminated, each site uses its own link, eliminating collision issues and increasing the average data transmission rate for users, thus expanding capacity.

[0040] In many situations, due to the inconvenience or high cost of deploying power supplies, and to enhance electrical safety, PoE switches are generally used. These switches transmit data via network cables while simultaneously providing power, enabling information exchange between terminal devices and powering those devices. Compared to ordinary switches, PoE switches can transmit data signals to Internet Protocol-based devices such as IP phones, wireless LAN access points, and network cameras while also providing DC power. Therefore, power cabling is no longer required, resulting in higher reliability for the entire network.

[0041] Because office buildings, production workshops, and industrial parks are generally large, this places new demands on the transmission distance of local area networks (LANs). The core component of existing switched LANs is a switch with RJ45 ports used for cascading signal transmission and PoE power supply. Its maximum transmission and power supply distance is limited to 100 meters by the 802.3 Ethernet standard. Although some companies on the market offer products that support transmission distances exceeding 100 meters, they still cannot break through 300 meters.

[0042] The power supply distance of a PoE switch is determined by the transmission distance of the data signal. While pure power can be transmitted over long distances, the stable transmission distance of the data signal is limited by the high-speed signal attenuation and the quality of the network cable. Therefore, if the transmission distance needs to be increased, the transmission rate must be sacrificed. This method cannot provide high bandwidth, and the compressed bandwidth is not conducive to the smooth transmission of high-definition data such as surveillance images.

[0043] When the power supply distance of a PoE switch exceeds 100 meters, a primary network device is needed for relaying or aggregation to ensure transmission quality. This limits the flexibility of network expansion and the convenience of maintenance, while also increasing network construction costs.

[0044] If fiber optic switches are used, the entire network adopts an all-optical network, with network nodes connected via fiber optic cables. These nodes are powered by local 220V electricity. While the cascading distance can reach 10km or more, it cannot power the terminal devices. Furthermore, signals entering and leaving the network require electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion via optical modules at the nodes. Each expansion of device nodes requires high-voltage installation, and the entire network's power supply is a high-voltage system, resulting in poor scalability, hindering unified management, and leading to poor overall network manageability.

[0045] In view of the above problems, this application proposes a network device that can use copper wires thicker than those of traditional switches through a power supply interface to provide power to external devices over long distances, while using optical fiber through a data interface to transmit data over long distances. The independently designed power supply interface and data interface do not interfere with each other and have high reliability.

[0046] This application provides network equipment, such as... Figure 1 As shown, it includes an optical module, a power management module, an internal power supply, and a casing, wherein:

[0047] The optical module includes at least one data interface, which is used to connect a data plug to transmit optical signals between the optical module and an external device.

[0048] The power management module is connected to the internal power supply, and the power management module includes at least one power supply interface for connecting a power supply plug. The power management module distributes the total power provided by the internal power supply to the external device connected to the power supply plug.

[0049] The at least one data interface and the at least one power supply interface are located at different locations on the front panel of the housing.

[0050] In this embodiment, the optical module can be a Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) optical module with two fiber optic interfaces. Each SFP optical module is inserted into an optical cage and mounted on the lower mounting plate. The optical cage protects and secures the SFP optical module. The optical cage can contain one or more optical modules. The SFP optical module with two fiber optic interfaces allows for the separation of receiving and transmitting data, enabling full-duplex signal transmission and reducing the complexity of fiber optic interfaces. In this embodiment, the two fiber optic interfaces of the SFP optical module are referred to as the data interface or optical port.

[0051] In this embodiment, the power management module uses a Type-C socket interface as the power supply interface. The Type-C socket interface is a small connector that supports high power. It can connect a Type-C plug to supply power to external devices. At the same time, because the Type-C socket interface is small in size, it occupies less panel space. Compared with traditional switches, it can achieve higher density of power supply to external devices in the same panel space.

[0052] In one or more embodiments, when there are multiple optical modules and power management modules, the multiple optical modules and power management modules can be arranged side by side or placed in layers.

[0053] In one or more embodiments, the at least one power supply interface and the at least one data interface are arranged in a layered manner on the front panel, and the front panel includes at least one power supply interface layer and at least one data interface layer. The power supply interface layer and the data interface layer can be arranged in an adjacent arrangement of the same type of layer or in a cross arrangement of different types of layers.

[0054] The power supply interface layer of the network device provided in this embodiment can be configured as one or two layers, and the data interface layer can also be configured as one or two layers.

[0055] In this embodiment, the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer can be set separately. For example, if both the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer are single layers, the power supply interface layer is placed on the upper layer of the network device's front panel, and the data interface layer is placed on the lower layer of the network device's front panel. Figure 2 As shown, the front panel includes a first area with a power supply interface layer integrally formed with the upper buckle plate, and a second area with a data interface layer formed on one side of the optical cage.

[0056] Alternatively, the data interface layer can be placed on the upper layer of the network device's front panel, and the power interface layer can be placed on the lower layer of the network device's front panel, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the front panel includes a first area integrally formed with the upper panel, which has a data interface layer on one side serving as an optical cage, and a second area integrally formed with the lower panel, which has a power supply interface layer.

[0057] In this embodiment, when both the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer have two layers, the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer can be set up alternately, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the front panel includes a first area integrally formed with the upper buckle plate, which serves as an optical cage and has a first data interface layer on one side; a second area integrally formed with the upper buckle plate, which serves as an optical cage and has a first power supply interface layer on one side; a third area integrally formed with the upper buckle plate, which serves as an optical cage and has a second data interface layer on one side; and a fourth area integrally formed with the lower buckle plate, which serves as a second power supply interface layer.

[0058] The network device described in this embodiment is a 1U device, where U is a unit representing the external dimensions of the device. 1U means the device height is 4.445 cm. Within a 1U space, the width and height of the device are fixed. Specifying the size of the network device facilitates planning the space required for each device in the server room. Therefore, a small-sized Type-C socket interface is used as the power supply interface and arranged in a layered layout to maximize panel space utilization and provide high-density external power supply. Simultaneously, the front-facing design of both power and data interfaces places them on the front panel, facilitating future device maintenance and management.

[0059] Each power supply interface layer may include 24 Type-C receptacle interfaces; in other embodiments, each power supply interface layer may have up to 26 Type-C receptacle interfaces within a 1U space. Each data interface layer may include 24 optical ports; in other embodiments, each data interface layer may have up to 26 optical ports within a 1U space, with each layer corresponding to either 24 or 26 SFP optical modules.

[0060] Therefore, the network device provided in this embodiment can simultaneously provide power to external devices and transmit data over long distances through 48 power supply interfaces and 48 optical ports in a 1U space. The maximum density can simultaneously provide power to external devices and transmit data over long distances through 52 power supply interfaces and 52 optical ports.

[0061] In one or more embodiments, any different power supply interface layer and any different data interface layer are adjacent to each other and form a group of interface layers, and the front panel of the housing includes multiple groups of interface layers.

[0062] The present application provides a preferred embodiment in which the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer each have two layers. The front panel includes two sets of interface layers, and the data interface layers in the two sets of interface layers are adjacent.

[0063] The corresponding network device's front-view internal structure is as follows: Figure 5 As shown, the housing includes an upper snap plate, a lower snap plate, a left snap plate, a right snap plate, an upper and lower snap plate connector, and a rear panel. The number of optical modules is at least one. At least one optical module is mounted on the lower snap plate through an optical cage. The upper and lower snap plates are connected by the upper and lower snap plate connector to form the housing with an opening. The upper and lower snap plate connector is a connector or copper busbar with current carrying capacity, which can achieve power transmission of 4800W+. This power is evenly distributed to each power supply interface, so that each power supply interface can supply power to external devices at 100W.

[0064] like Figure 6As shown, the front panel of this preferred embodiment includes a first region having a power supply interface layer integrally formed with the upper snap plate, a second region having two data interface layers formed on one side of the optical cage, and a third region having another power supply interface layer integrally formed with the lower snap plate.

[0065] On the front panel of the network device, a first predetermined number of data interfaces and a second predetermined number of power interfaces in each interface layer constitute a group of interfaces. Each group of interfaces is connected to the first predetermined number of data plugs and the second predetermined number of power plugs, which are fixed by a card holder. The card holder includes the first predetermined number of first slots and the second predetermined number of second slots. Each first slot matches the shape of its fixed data plug, and each second slot matches the shape of its fixed power plug.

[0066] In one or more embodiments, if the first set quantity is 1 and the second set quantity is 1, then in any group of interface layers, one data interface and one power supply interface are adjacent. In this preferred embodiment, a full-duplex LC connector is selected as the data plug, and a Type-C plug is selected as the power supply plug. The LC connector is a type of connector adapted to SFP optical modules. When one data plug and one power supply plug are inserted into a group of interfaces, the following is used: Figure 7 The card holder shown secures the data plug and the power plug together, making them less likely to fall off and facilitating future plugging and unplugging for maintenance.

[0067] A diagram illustrating the shape adaptation of the card slot with the data plug and power plug is shown below. Figure 8 As shown. The card holder includes one card slot that matches the shape of the data plug and one card slot that matches the shape of the power plug. The data plug has an unlocking pull bar on one side. One side of each card slot that matches the shape of the data plug matches the side of the data plug, and the other side matches the shape of the data cable connected to the data plug and the unlocking pull bar. One side of each card slot that matches the shape of the power plug matches the side of the power plug, and the other side matches the shape of the power cable connected to the power plug.

[0068] By using the unlocking lever on the upper part of the data plug, the data plug and power plug can be combined into one for plugging and unplugging maintenance, which is convenient for management.

[0069] When another set of interfaces in the same vertical direction is plugged into another data plug and another power plug, such as Figure 9 As shown, in the same vertical direction, two card holders are used to fix the two types of plugs corresponding to the two sets of interfaces.

[0070] The rear-view internal structure of the network device corresponding to the above preferred embodiment is as follows: Figure 10As shown in the figure, the switching power supply adapter board is used to connect to an external power supply and transmits power to each power supply interface through the upper and lower snap-on connectors. Other components on the motherboard in the figure, such as the main chip, fan connector and expansion slot connector, are existing technologies and will not be described in detail here.

[0071] For ease of understanding, the embodiments of this application provide a top view of the network device described above, as shown below. Figure 11 As shown, the top view from the front side is as follows: Figure 12 As shown, the top view from the rear side is as follows Figure 13 As shown.

[0072] This application uses an optical module to provide an optical port to achieve long-distance data transmission. At the same time, it uses a small-sized, space-saving Type-C socket as a power supply port to connect a Type-C plug to achieve long-distance power supply. In a 1U space, it can achieve long-distance power supply and data transmission to external devices through 48 power supply interfaces + 48 optical ports. The maximum density can achieve 52 power supply interfaces + 52 optical ports to achieve long-distance power supply and data transmission to external devices.

[0073] Meanwhile, the data interface and power supply interface are designed separately. Data is transmitted via optical fiber, which not only eliminates the limitations of high-speed signal attenuation and network cable quality factors when transmitting signals through network cables, but also ensures that the power supply and data transmission functions do not interfere with each other, resulting in high reliability. In addition, this application preferably adopts a combination of the data interface and power supply interface, using a two-in-one double-layer card holder to fix the data plug and power supply plug together, which facilitates the later plugging and unplugging maintenance by the administrator.

[0074] Although preferred embodiments of this application have been described, those skilled in the art, upon learning the basic inventive concept, can make other changes and modifications to these embodiments. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments as well as all changes and modifications falling within the scope of this application.

[0075] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this application without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Therefore, if such modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalents, this application also intends to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A network device, characterized in that, Includes optical module, power management module, internal power supply and casing, wherein: The optical module includes at least one data interface, which is used to connect a data plug to transmit optical signals between the optical module and an external device. The power management module is connected to the internal power supply, and the power management module includes at least one power supply interface for connecting a power supply plug. The power management module distributes the total power provided by the internal power supply to the external device connected to the power supply plug. The at least one data interface and the at least one power supply interface are disposed on the front panel of the housing; the at least one power supply interface and the at least one data interface are arranged in a layered manner on the front panel, and the front panel includes at least one power supply interface layer and at least one data interface layer; the power supply interface layer and the data interface layer are arranged in a layered manner by adjacent arrangement of the same type of layer or cross arrangement of different type of layer.

2. The network device according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the at least one power supply interface layer and the at least one data interface layer, any different power supply interface layer and any different data interface layer are adjacent to each other and form a group of interface layers.

3. The network device according to claim 2, characterized in that, The front panel includes two sets of interface layers, and the data interface layers in the two sets of interface layers are adjacent.

4. The network device according to claim 2, characterized in that, Each set of interface layers comprises a set of interfaces consisting of a first set number of data interfaces and a second set number of power supply interfaces. Each set of interfaces is connected to the first set number of data plugs and the second set number of power supply plugs, which are fixed by a card slot.

5. The network device according to claim 4, characterized in that, If the first set quantity is 1 and the second set quantity is 1, then a data interface and a power supply interface in any group of interface layers are adjacent.

6. The network device according to claim 4, characterized in that, Each data plug has an unlocking pull bar on one side; the card holder includes a first set number of first card slots and a second set number of second card slots, each first card slot matching the shape of its fixed data plug, and each second card slot matching the shape of its fixed power plug.

7. The network device according to claim 5, characterized in that, The housing includes an upper snap plate, a lower snap plate, a left snap plate, a right snap plate, an upper and lower snap plate connector, and a rear panel. The number of optical modules is at least one. At least one optical module is mounted on the lower snap plate through an optical cage. The upper snap plate and the lower snap plate are connected by the upper and lower snap plate connector to form the housing with an opening. The front panel includes a first area with a power supply interface layer integrally formed with the upper snap plate, a second area with two data interface layers formed as one side of the optical cage, and a third area with another power supply interface layer integrally formed with the lower snap plate.

8. The network device according to claim 7, characterized in that, The upper and lower buckle connectors are connectors or copper cables with current-carrying capacity.

9. The network device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The data interface uses a small hot-swappable SFP interface, and the data plug uses an LC connector.

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