Patent ID: 7715188

Claim:
A disk array apparatus comprising: a plurality of disk drives mounted on a motherboard, and arranged in rows perpendicular to a direction of an airflow; one or more shield plates; a housing containing said disk drives and said one or more shield plates therein; and airflow passages formed between an upper surface of said disk drives and an inner wall of said housing for enabling said airflow to pass through; wherein each shield plate is disposed between adjacent rows of said disk drives on a downstream side of the airflow passages, for controlling the airflow on the downstream side of said airflow passages; wherein one of said shield plates is arranged so as to maintain a first open space between a distal end thereof and said inner wall of said housing; and wherein another of said shield plates is arranged so as to maintain a second open space between a distal end thereof and said motherboard, so that said first open space and said second open space alternate in said direction of the airflow.