Patent ID: 8908372

Claim:
A method of cooling a shelf of electronics, the method comprising: moving air from outside the shelf into an intake plenum that is oriented horizontally in the shelf; wherein a first portion of the air travels from the intake plenum into a vertically-oriented channel, and from the vertically-oriented channel through an opening in a wall into a horizontally-oriented channel, and exits from a back side of the shelf; wherein the vertically-oriented channel is formed by a pair of vertical circuit boards spaced apart from one another in a front volume of the shelf; wherein the horizontally-oriented channel is formed by a pair of horizontal circuit boards spaced apart from one another in a rear volume of the shelf; wherein said wall is located between the vertical circuit boards and the horizontal circuit boards; wherein a second portion of the air travels from the vertically-oriented channel into an exhaust plenum and exits from the back side of the shelf; wherein the vertical circuit boards are sandwiched in the front volume, between the intake plenum and the exhaust plenum; and wherein the vertical circuit boards dissipate more heat relative to the horizontal circuit boards; sensing a plurality of temperatures in said shelf; and using at least one of said temperatures to determine power used in said moving.