Cabinet for the Acceptance of Electrical Card Cages

The invention is directed to a cabinet for the acceptance of a plurality of electrical card cages having different assemblies therein which are respectively connected within a card cage via backplane plug strips as well as a wiring backplane, and which are connected to the card cages via plug cables. Assemblies having different widths can be introduced within the card cages.

Such a cabinet is disclosed, for example, by German Published Application 28 42 060, incorporated herein. In this cabinet, the card cages are arranged within a cabinet rack which is composed of vertical, lateral rack bars as well as of horizontal, upper and lower rack bars. The disadvantage of this known cabinet is that a cabinet rack of a defined size must be prefabricated, even when it is not fully equipped. In this known cabinet, therefore, unnecessarily large prefabrications must usually be carried out due to the prescription of a defined cabinet size.

German Utility Model 85 09 591 discloses a cabinet that can be adapted to different equipping desires that arise. For that purpose, this cabinet is composed of a plurality of individual, independent, stackable card cages. What is disadvantageous about this cabinet is that lateral parts, back walls, and doors that differ in size must be employed, dependent on the number of card cages which are employed and stacked above one another.

It is an object of the present invention to specify a cabinet of the type initially cited which offers an even greater flexibility without any, and all prefabrications upon construction with respect to the different size categories that are required.

In a cabinet of the above-recited type, this object is inventively achieved in that the cabinet is composed of one or more stackable card cages as well as of a bottom part and of a top part. The individual card cages comprise lateral parts and a back wall covering designed as an outside wall. The lateral parts have their lower edges provided with male projecting members and have their upper edges provided with corresponding receiving openings which coincide with the projecting members in terms of contour and are arranged in alignment with the projecting members.

The advantage of the cabinet of the invention is that prefabrications have to be carried out only for the desired size of the cabinet and that the cabinet ca subsequently be arbitrarily expanded as desired without specific parts which were previously employed and have to be taken out of service. As a result of the allocation of the paneling parts to the individual, stackable card cages, thus unnecessary prefabrications are avoided given greater flexibility in the production of the cabinets. The front side of the cabinet is thus formed by the panels of the individual assemblies or by corresponding cover panels.

An expedient development of the cabinet of the invention is that the back wall covering is attached at a distance from the transverse bars of the card cages. The cabling of the cabinet can thus occur within the cabinet space.

Another expedient development of the cabinet of the invention is that the bottom part and/or top part contains aerators. As a result thereof, adequate aeration of the individual assemblies or panels can be managed in any stage of expansion of the cabinet of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet of the present invention having four card cages stacked above one another and also having a top part and a bottom part;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a cabinet of the present invention having three card cages arranged above one another and having a top part as well as a bottom part; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective partial view of a module frame of a cabinet of the present invention.

The overall view of a cabinet which is constructed in accordance with the present invention results from FIGS. 1 and 2. The cabinet is essentially composed of card cages 1 stacked on top of one another. Each of the card cages contains a plurality of assemblies. The group of card cages is terminated by a top part 2 and by a bottom part 3. The individual card cages are limited by lateral parts 4 and back wall coverings 5. Assembly panels 6 form the front termination, these assembly panels 6 being differently designed depending on the size of the assemblies with which they are associated; and depending on the job of the assemblies. Furthermore, the individual card cages 1 can be provided with cover panels 8 at the top and bottom of the front side behind which assembly fuse links to prevent unauthorized plugging and pulling of the individual assemblies are situated.

Aerators can be integrated within the bottom parts 3 or within the top parts 2 for better heat dissipation.

FIG. 3 shows details of card cages 1 of a cabinet of the invention. The card cage 1 is essentially composed of the two lateral parts 4 which are connected to one another by transverse bars 10. Different assemblies having different assembly panels 6 can be inserted between the upper and lower transverse bar 10 of a card cage 1. These assemblies are contacted to a wiring backplane 7 with plug connectors. The lateral parts that simultaneously serve as cabinet paneling comprise male projection members 14 at their lower edges which engage into corresponding receiving openings 13 that are arranged at their upper edges and which coincide with the projections in terms of contour and are arranged in alignment therewith. An exact stacking of the card cages is thus enabled. The possibility thus arises of masking the projections and the corresponding receiving openings 13 as well as the screws 15 that serve the purpose of fastening the lateral parts 4 to the transverse bars 10 with a screw covering in an aesthetic way. The back wall covering 5 of the individual card cage 1 is attached at a distance from the wiring backplane 7 of the card cage 1. A wiring of the assemblies as well as of the card cages to one another within the closed cabinet is possible in this way.

The individual card cages 1 are shielded at the top and bottom with shielding plates 11. In order to achieve a 100% shielding, the assembly panels 6, the lateral parts 4, as well as the back wall covering 5, are integrated into the shielding concept.

Although various minor changes and modifications might be proposed by those skilled in the art, it will be understood that I wish to include within the claims of the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as reasonably come within my contribution to the art.