EMI attenuation obtained by application of waveguide beyond frequency cutoff techniques for add-in ITE mass storage devices

A computer system comprising:

• a plurality of mass-storage bays for housing electronic assemblies, the mass-storage bays arranged to be at least pairwise contiguous and are configured to have substantially equal heights, width and depth dimensions, whereby the respective height and width dimensions of a mass-storage bay define a cross-sectional dimension of the bay;
• and
• a divider disposed in at least one of the mass-storage bays, wherein the at least one mass-storage bay is unpopulated, so as to form a plurality of compartments within the unpopulated bay so that the cross-sectional dimension of each of the compartments is less than the cross-sectional dimension of the unpopulated mass-storage bay, whereby the compartments afford substantially enhanced attenuation of electromagnetic signals having a frequency at the highest expected operating frequency of the computer system.

An option bay assembly for a computer system, the option bay assembly comprising:

• a plurality of mass-storage bays, each mass-storage bay for storing an electronic assembly, the mass-storage bays arranged to be pairwise contiguous and configured to have substantially equal height, width and depth dimensions, whereby the respective height and width dimensions of a mass-storage bay define a cross-sectional dimension of the mass-storage bay;
• and
• a divider disposed in at least one of the mass-storage bays, wherein the at least one mass-storage bay is unpopulated, so as to form a plurality of compartments within the bay so that the cross-sectional dimension of each of the compartments is less than the cross-sectional dimension of the unpopulated mass-storage bay, whereby the compartments afford substantially enhanced attenuation of electromagnetic signals having a frequency at the highest expected operating frequency of the computer system.

A method of enhancing the EMI shielding characteristics of an assembly for housing mass-storage devices for a personal computer system, wherein the assembly comprises at least one unpopulated mass-storage bay having a depth dimension, the method comprising the step of dividing the unpopulated mass-storage bay into a plurality of compartments so that the depth dimension is at least three times greater than the largest cross-sectional dimension of an aperture formed by a compartment.