Existing electronic equipment cabinets generally employ forced air convection cooling of electronic modules mounted in chassis within the cabinet. Many prior art cabinet and chassis configurations circulate cooling air in a side-to-side configuration. The side-to-side cooling pattern has the disadvantage of pre-heating air for each successive chassis when chassis are placed side-by-side as is common in telecommunications and other embedded applications. As processor speeds increase and electronic modules generate more thermal energy, prior art configurations and methods of cooling electronic modules and their cabinets will become inadequate.
Accordingly, there is a significant need for an apparatus and method that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art outlined above.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the drawing have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to each other. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the Figures to indicate corresponding elements.