Housing for diverse cooling configuration printed circuit cards

A method of securely retaining and cooling within a sealed housing enclosure both convectively cooled printed circuit cards and conductively cooled printed circuit cards, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a chassis having a sealed card-insertion cavity between parallel sidewalls thereof, containing a plurality of card-guide slots that are configured to receive and guide said convectively cooled printed circuit cards and said conductively cooled printed circuit cards into electrical connectors arranged parallel with one another at a first portion of said chassis;
• (b) mounting thermally conductive sidewall heat exchangers at sidewalls of said chassis and over which cooling fluid passes, said thermally conductive sidewall heat exchangers being thermally conductively coupled to said conductively cooled printed circuit cards through sidewalls of said chassis so as to thermally remove heat therefrom through said chassis sidewalls;
• (c) providing a cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum at a second portion of said chassis, that is spaced apart from said first portion of said chassis and sealing said card-insertion cavity therebetween, said cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum including a cooling fluid supply chamber having a plurality of cooling fluid supply apertures overlying card slots of only said convectively cooled printed circuit cards, and a cooling fluid exhaust chamber adjacent to said cooling fluid supply chamber and from which said cooling fluid having cooled circuit components of said convectively cooled printed circuit cards is removed, said cooling fluid exhaust chamber having a plurality of cooling fluid removal apertures adjacent to said plurality of cooling fluid supply apertures;
• (d) attaching a plurality of thermally conductive heat exchangers to first sides said convectively cooled printed circuit cards, such that a respective thermally conductive heat exchanger is attached to and in thermally conductive engagement with a first side of a respective convectively cooled printed circuit card, and is operative to draw heat away from and thereby cool said circuit components that are mounted to a second side of said respective convectively cooled printed circuit card, said respective thermally conductive heat exchanger including a cooling fluid inlet port joined in sealing engagement with a respective cooling fluid supply aperture of said plurality of cooling supply apertures of said cooling fluid supply chamber of said cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum, and through which said cooling fluid is introduced from said cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum, and a cooling fluid outlet port adjacent to said cooling fluid inlet port and joined in sealing engagement with a respective cooling fluid removal aperture of said plurality of cooling fluid removal apertures of said cooling fluid exhaust chamber of said cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum, and through which said cooling fluid is exhausted from said heat exchanger into said cooling fluid supply/exhaust plenum;
• (e) installing said convectively cooled printed circuit cards and said conductively cooled printed circuit cards into said arrangement of electrical connectors, so that said convectively cooled printed circuit cards and said conductively cooled printed circuit cards are retained thereby in mutually adjacent, spatially parallel relationship with one another;
• and
• (f) supplying cooling fluid to said cooling fluid supply chamber so that said cooling fluid flows through said plurality of cooling fluid supply apertures overlying card slots of only said convectively cooled printed circuit cards, through said plurality of thermally conductive heat exchangers attached to said first sides said convectively cooled printed cards and exits by way of said plurality of cooling fluid removal apertures of said cooling fluid exhaust chamber.