Patent ID: 8270171

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a housing of a rack-mount electrical hardware component, the housing having a front, back, sides, top, and bottom; an input/output connector on the front of the housing, the input/output connector electrically connected with the electrical hardware component; a first air intake/outtake formed on the front of the housing; a second air intake/outtake formed on the back, top, bottom, sides, or combinations thereof; and an intermediate plate comprising a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plurality of openings each extending through the top surface and the bottom surface of the intermediate plate, the intermediate plate attached to the housing such that an air flow channel extends between the first and second air intake/outtakes, through the plurality of openings in the intermediate plate, and adjacent to a heat generating component of the electrical hardware component, the plurality of openings arranged on the intermediate plate to maintain electromagnetic interference shielding provided by the intermediate plate and to concurrently enable air to flow through the intermediate plate; wherein a portion of the air flow channel is defined by a bottom surface of the top of the housing and the top surface of the intermediate plate.