Inventors:
Gary W. Elko - Summit NJ
Paul Howard - Hinsdale IL
Daniel A. Quinlan - Andover MA
Assignee:
AT&T Bell Laboratories - New York NY
AT&T Information Systems - Morristown NJ
AT&T Bell Laboratories - Murray Hill NJ
International Classification:
H05K 720
H02K 524
Abstract:
Option-equippable apparatus such as a computer that is not fully equipped with option circuit boards (14) has filler boards (15,16) connected to free board slots (13). In one embodiment, the filler boards (15) simulate the effect of circuit boards on airflow and act to evenly distribute the cooling air flow inside the computer cabinet (10) in order to provide improved cooling of the circuit boards. In another embodiment, the filler boards (16) block airflow between filler boards connected to adjacent board slots to direct more cooling airflow to any slots equipped with option circuit boards. The filler boards are made of electrically-conductive material (30) to absorb electromagnetic radiation emissions, and are covered with acoustically-absorbent material (33) to absorb sound emissions of the apparatus.