Toolless, self closing floor grommet closure for cable openings and the like in raised floors of data centers office buildings and other air conditioned structures

Abstract

A floor grommet for use in building and office structures supplied with air conditioning via under floor plenum. Directed flow of conditioned air is optimized by limiting the escape of air from the plenum into the space above the floor by leakage through floor openings provided for power cables, data cables and the like. Specialized floor grommets installed in the cable openings are comprised of a surrounding frame mounting sealing elements comprised of thin, flexible elements which are anchored at one end in the grommet frame and extend toward the center of the opening, from each side, to effectively close the opening against significant flow of conditioned air from the plenum below. Cables passing through the grommet opening cause minimal deflection of the flexible elements to limit the escape of conditioned air. Preferably, the resilient, flexible elements are filamentary in nature. To particular advantage, the filamentary sealing elements may be installed in multiple stages, with stages underneath being in contact with stages above, in outer portions thereof. Additionally, solid, van-like sealing elements may be provided to assist in centering of the cable elements, when cables are installed, and to provide a substantially complete seal, for those openings in which no cables are installed. The floor grommet of the invention is designed for initial or retrofit installation. Significant economies in the usage of conditioned air are realized when the floor grommets are employed.

Description

[0001]Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,999. The reissue applications are applications Ser. No. 11 / 250,137, now U.S. Pat. No. Re. 41,863, and Ser. No. 12 / 616,627, (the present application) which are divisional reissues of U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,999. The present application claims the priority of the Oct. 13, 2005 filing date of reissue application Ser. No. 11 / 250,137.RELATED APPLICATIONS[0002]This application claims priority of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 318,763, filed Sep. 13, 2001.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In certain building and office structures, it is advantageous to supply air conditioning by way of a raised floor structure forming an under floor plenum. By way of openings provided selectively in the flooring elements, the air conditioning flows are controllably directed into the room space or spaces above the floor. Such arrangements are widely employed in data centers, for example, but are also useful...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The present invention relates to a novel and improved form of floor grommet for use in large, high density data centers, under floor office air conditioning and the like, which substantially seals off the cable openings around the power and data cables or other elements passing therethrough. There is thus a minimal loss of cooling air through the multiple cable openings and a maximized flow of such air is directed through the intended discharge openings, e.g., adjacent to and / or underneath the operating units, or through special outlets to provide a desired swirling action. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, a standard cable opening of 4″×8″ or 5″×8″ dimensions is “sealed” by a plurality of thin filamentary elements extending from opposite sides of a grommet frame and meeting in the central area of the grommet opening. The density of these filamentary elements is such that power and data cables may be easily threaded through the grommet opening by displacement of the elements, which then largely close around the cables to minimize any opening for the escape of conditioned air. To a particular advantage, the filamentary elements may be provided by brush-like bristle assemblies, formed of relatively fine bristles of materials such as nylon, polypropylene or natural horsehair.

Problems solved by technology

The air conditioning of the operating units is complicated significantly by the presence of large numbers of cable openings throughout the floor space.

Large quantities of the cool air escape through these large openings into the general ambient of the room, where the cool air cannot be efficiently utilized.

While this “lost” cooling air does enter the ambient space of the data center, it is not effectively and efficiently available to be drawn into the operating units, and often simply mixes with hot air being discharged from the operating units by their internal cooling fans.

The loss of efficiency can be as great as the equivalent of a 20 ton cooling unit for each thousand square feet of computer room floor space.

These have been haphazard at best and generally of minimal usefulness.

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