Convertible cold aisle and hot aisle cooling solutions with a common chassis design
An air mover board may include a cold-aisle power and cold-aisle signal connector located on a first edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to a corresponding connector of an information handling system when the air mover board is in a cold-aisle configuration, a hot-aisle power and hot-aisle signal connector located on a second edge of the air mover board opposite that of the first edge and configured to couple to the corresponding connector of an information handling system when the air mover board is in a hot-aisle configuration, and a plurality of mechanical features configured to align and maintain the air mover board in a fixed position relative to an air mover tray, including a feature permanently coupled to the air mover board and configured to mechanically couple to features of the air mover tray in the cold-aisle and hot-aisle configuration.
1. An air mover board comprising:
a cold-aisle power connector located on a first edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to a corresponding power connector of an information handling system when the air mover board is in a cold-aisle configuration;
a cold-aisle signal connector located on the first edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to a corresponding signal connector of the information handling system when the air mover board is in the cold-aisle configuration;
a hot-aisle power connector located on a second edge of the air mover board opposite that of the first edge and configured to couple to the corresponding power connector of an information handling system when the air mover board is in a hot-aisle configuration; and
a hot-aisle signal connector located on the second edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to the corresponding signal connector of the information handling system when the air mover board is in the hot-aisle configuration;
a plurality of mechanical features configured to align the air mover board relative to an air mover tray and maintain the air mover board in a fixed position relative to the air mover tray, wherein the plurality of mechanical features includes a feature configured to:
mechanically couple to a first feature of the air mover tray in the cold-aisle configuration in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray;
mechanically couple to a second feature of the air mover tray in the hot-aisle configuration in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray; and
wherein the feature is permanently coupled to the air mover board.
2. The air mover board of claim 1 , wherein the feature comprises a plunger and each of the first feature and the second feature comprise a hole formed in the air mover tray.
3. The air mover board of claim 1 , further comprising a mechanical feature preventing:
insertion of the air mover board when in the cold-aisle configuration into the information handling system when in a hot-aisle configuration of the information handling system; and
insertion of the air mover board when in the hot-aisle configuration into the information handling system when in a cold-aisle configuration of the information handling system.
4. The air mover board of claim 3 , wherein the mechanical feature comprises a standoff configured to interact with a counterpart mechanical feature of the information handling system, wherein the counterpart mechanical feature is positioned in the information handling system based on whether the information handling system is in the hot-aisle configuration of the information handling system or in the cold-aisle configuration of the information handling system.
5. An air mover tray comprising:
a plurality of mechanical features configured to align an air mover board relative to the air mover tray and maintain the air mover board in a fixed position relative to the air mover tray, wherein the plurality of mechanical features includes:
a first feature configured to mechanically couple to a feature of the air mover board in a cold-aisle configuration of the air mover board in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray;
a second feature configured to mechanically couple to the feature of the air mover board in a hot-aisle configuration of the air mover board in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray; and
wherein the feature is permanently coupled to the air mover board.
6. The air mover tray of claim 5 , wherein the feature comprises a plunger and each of the first feature and the second feature comprise a hole formed in the air mover tray.
7. An information handling system comprising:
a chassis;
a backplane housed within the chassis, the backplane comprising a power connector and a signal connector;
an air mover cage formed in the chassis for housing a plurality of air movers;
a bay formed in the chassis adjacent to the air mover cage and configured to receive an assembly of an air mover board and an air mover tray; and
the air mover board, wherein the air mover board includes:
a plurality of air mover connectors, each air mover connector configured to electrically couple an air mover housed in the air mover cage to the air mover board;
a cold-aisle power connector located on a first edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to the power connector when the air mover board is in a cold-aisle configuration;
a cold-aisle signal connector located on the first edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to a corresponding signal connector of the information handling system when the air mover board is in the cold-aisle configuration;
a hot-aisle power connector located on a second edge of the air mover board opposite that of the first edge and configured to couple to the corresponding power connector of an information handling system when the air mover board is in a hot-aisle configuration; and
a hot-aisle signal connector located on the second edge of the air mover board and configured to couple to the corresponding signal connector of the information handling system when the air mover board is in the hot-aisle configuration.
8. The information handling system of claim 7 , wherein the air mover board further comprises a plurality of mechanical features configured to align the air mover board relative to the air mover tray and maintain the air mover board in a fixed position relative to the air mover tray.
9. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of mechanical features includes a feature configured to:
mechanically couple to a first feature of the air mover tray in the cold-aisle configuration in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray; and
mechanically couple to a second feature of the air mover tray in the cold-aisle configuration in order to maintain the air mover board in the fixed position relative to the air mover tray.
10. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the feature comprises a plunger and each of the first feature and the second feature comprise a hole formed in the air mover tray.
11. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the feature is permanently coupled to the air mover board.
12. The information handling system of claim 7 , further comprising a mechanical feature located within the chassis preventing:
insertion of the air mover board when in the cold-aisle configuration into the information handling system when in a hot-aisle configuration of the information handling system; and
insertion of the air mover board when in the hot-aisle configuration into the information handling system when in a cold-aisle configuration of the information handling system.
13. The information handling system of claim 12 , wherein the mechanical feature is configured to interact with a counterpart mechanical feature of the air mover board, wherein the mechanical feature is positioned in the information handling system based on whether the information handling system is in the hot-aisle configuration of the information handling system or in the cold-aisle configuration of the information handling system.