Method for cooling a connector system
AssigneeMolex Incorporated
InventorsJay H. Neer, Kent E. REGNIER, Cleaver BRINKERHOFF, Harold Keith LANG
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cage can include a thermal plate positioned so as to be aligned with a bottom of a channel. An adjustable biasing system is provided to urge a module toward the thermal plate. The adjustable biasing system may be a riding heat sink. The thermal plate may include a fin to help increase its surface area. A housing with a card slot aligned with the channel can be provided in the cage to provide a receptacle that has a card slot aligned with the channel. A receptacle so configured allows for greater thermal energy to be removed from a module.
Claims6
A method of cooling a connector system, comprising:
- providing a connector on a circuit board, the connectors including a cage that extends around a housing, the housing supporting at least two card slots on a front of the housing, the at least two card slots being spaced apart in a vertical manner, the gage defining two ports that are each respectively aligned with one of the at least two card slots, the ports being defined by walls and configured to allow a mating module to be inserted therein in a first direction so as to allow for engagement with the housing;
- providing an thermal conduit between the two ports that allows air to flow past the two ports in a direction that is transverse to the first direction;
- and
- directing air through the thermal conduit.
The method of claim 3, wherein the connector further includes at least one riding heat sink.
The method of claim 5, wherein the connector includes at least three columns of ports, each column having two ports that are vertically separated and the thermal conduit extends between the vertically separated ports.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.