Importance

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Abstract

A telecommunications switch chassis includes a housing which is divided into front and rear compartments by a transverse printed circuit board or mid-plane. Notches are provided in the upper edges of the mid-plane which are adapted to receive tabs projecting from the ends of a pair of card guides so that the card guides are supported on edge in proper laterally spaced relation within the front compartment. The card guides are formed with columns of slots whose edges are deformed to form slides interleaved with the slots so that the card guides can support a stack of printed circuit cards in vertical spaced relation within the front compartment, the spaces between the cards being aligned with the slots in the card guides. Card connectors are mounted to the printed circuit board, the connectors being aligned with the slides of the card guides so that when printed circuit cards are seated in the slides, end connectors on those cards mate with the corresponding connectors on the mid-plane so that reliable electrical connections via the mid-plane are made between all of the cards in the chassis. The chassis also includes a fan module in the front compartment which directs high pressure air across the front compartment between the printed circuit cards therein which air flows rearwardly into the rear compartment and between similarly stacked printed circuit cards in the rear compartment following a generally U-shaped path through the housing so that all electrical components on all of the cards are cooled properly.

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First Claim