Patent ID: 7372705

Claim:
A data communications device, comprising: an environmentally sealed housing having a card chassis and at least one end cap coupled to the card chassis, the housing configured to provide a barrier between an inner space defined by the housing and an outer space; a plurality of circuit boards disposed within the inner space of the housing, at least one of the plurality of circuit boards being configured to receive data from a source and direct data to a destination; and a thermal transfer assembly adapted to thermally couple at least one circuit board component of the plurality of circuit boards to the housing, the thermal transfer assembly comprising: a plate coupled to the at least one circuit board, a thermal conductor disposed between the plate and the at least one circuit board, the thermal conductor being configured to provide thermal communication between a circuit board component of the at least one circuit board and the plate, and a coupling element operable to thermally couple the plate to the housing; wherein: the card chassis defines a slot configured to support the conductive plate coupled to the at least one circuit board; and the coupling element comprises a primary compression element and a secondary compression element, the secondary compression element of the coupling element is configured to move relative to the primary compression element of the coupling element to thermally couple the plate to the housing.