Patent · US Expired

Fault-tolerant power distribution system for rack-mounted hardware

US5390081A · kind A · utility

37Cited by
12References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMar 22, 1993
Grant dateFeb 14, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 22, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH05K7/1457
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Fault-tolerant power distribution system for back-mounted hardware in which a backplane arrangement delivers alternative sources of system power in a prioritized pattern to each of a plurality of fault-tolerant electronic cards via a plurality of system slots, each slot including a power port having electrical contacts in a common system pinout, and the cooperating system cards have electrical contacts in the same common system pinout. Any of the system cards can be installed in any system slot and will receive the system power in one of a plurality of fault-tolerant prioritizations. A streamlined power distribution system has a circuit-board-like system power bus backplane arrangement providing the system slots and power ports in which a plurality of conductive pins at each port are disposed in a common system configuration for cooperation with system fault-tolerant cards, and further in which a plurality of power plates, a ground plate and an exposed contact plate, are selectively coupled via these pins in a low-profile, space-saving configuration.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.