Power Supply Latch Mechanism Sealing for Air Cooling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing power supply devices with latch structures experience air leakage through housing holes, leading to decreased cooling efficiency during air cooling.
Innovation Solution
A power supply device with a latch mechanism that includes a projection biased to protrude into a rack-side hole, sealed by an elastic body, preventing air leakage through housing-side holes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a latch structure with holes is provided in the housing to hold the housing in the rack, then the housing can be securely held and removed from the rack, but cooling air leaks through the holes decreasing cooling efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
An elastic body (flexible element) is provided to seal the hole in the housing. The elastic body deformably closes the opening when the housing is held in the rack, preventing cooling air from leaking through the hole while allowing the latch mechanism to function. This resolves the contradiction by using a flexible sealing element that maintains both holding reliability and cooling efficiency.
2Ease of operation
If a hole is formed in the housing for the latch mechanism, then the housing can be engaged with the rack, but air leakage occurs through the housing hole
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic body acts as a flexible seal that closes the hole when not in use, preventing air leakage while allowing the projection to pass through during insertion and removal operations. This maintains ease of operation while eliminating the harmful air leakage effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is extracted as a separate component (elastic body) distinct from the latch mechanism structure. This allows the hole to serve its primary function for engagement while the elastic body independently provides the sealing function to prevent air leakage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The elastic body seals the housing-side holes, maintaining cooling efficiency by preventing air leakage and ensuring effective air cooling performance.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic body that elastically presses and seals a region including the housing-side hole from an inner face side of the housing
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present disclosure reduces air leakage during air cooling. A power supply device 100 includes a rack 10 that holds one or more housings 20 while allowing the housings 20 insertable and removable into/from the rack 10, a latch mechanism 30 that holds each of the housings 20 so as to prevent the housing 20 from falling out of the rack 10, the latch mechanism 30 being provided in at least a part of a facing region where each of the housings 20 and an inner face of the rack 10 face each other, and one or more air cooling mechanisms 40 that forcibly blow cooling air into each of the housings 20. In the facing region, the latch mechanism 30 includes a projection 32 biased to protrude toward the inner face of the rack 10 from a surface of each of the housings 20, and a rack-side hole 14 opened at a position in the rack 10 facing the projection 32. Each of the housings 20 includes a housing-side hole 31 formed in a part of a surface facing the facing region to allow the projection 32 to protrude outward, and an elastic body 50 that elastically presses and seals a region including the housing-side hole 31 from an inner face side of the housing 20 in a state where the projection 32 protrudes from the housing-side hole 31.