Patent ID: 7675744

Claim:
A drive enclosure bay, comprising: a front side adapted to allow the insertion of drive trays and interface cards into the drive enclosure bay, the front side further adapted to allow air to flow through the front side of the drive enclosure bay; top side including an air outlet port; a bottom side including an air outlet port; a first and second lateral sides disposed substantially perpendicularly to said top side and said bottom side; a rear side opposite said front side, including a stiffener, wherein the stiffener comprises a vertical member disposed along a centerline of said rear side, and a plurality of co-parallel lateral members attached to and extending outwardly from said vertical member in a plane of said rear side and attached to either of said first or said second lateral sides; wherein the plurality of lateral members, said vertical member, and said first and second lateral sides are arranged to define a plurality of contoured cut-outs in said rear side, wherein the plurality of contoured cutouts are adapted to allow air to flow through the rear side of the drive enclosure bay, and wherein the drive bay enclosure has a long axis parallel to the longest dimension of the drive bay enclosure, and the front side and rear side are adapted to provide a straight-line air-flow path that runs substantially parallel to said long axis.