Patent ID: 8023267

Claim:
An avionics chassis comprising: a housing defining an interior and having opposing walls; a card rail assembly comprising a pair of spaced rails, with each rail mounted to an opposite one of the opposing walls in thermal conductivity therewith, and each rail having a channel to define an effective slot having a predetermined height extending between the rails; and a circuit card assembly comprising a printed circuit board having a substrate on which is located a heat-producing component, thermally conductive side strips located along an entire length of the exterior edges of the printed circuit board, and at least one thermally conductive element extending from the heat producing component to at least one of the thermally conductive side strips and a thermal plane spaced from and in overlying relationship with the substrate of the printed circuit board, with the substrate of the printed circuit board defining a first primary plane, and the thermal plane defining a second primary plane; wherein a spatial relationship between the printed circuit board and the thermal plane is such that the first and second primary planes are located within the slot when the circuit card assembly is mounted to the card rail assembly and the thermal plane directly contacts at least one of the rails to conductively couple with the at least one rail and form a first conductive path from the thermal plane to at least one of the opposing walls and the printed circuit board is conductively coupled to at least one of the rails through the thermally conductive side strips to form a second conductive path from the printed circuit board to at least one of the opposing walls and wherein the thermally conductive strips are lengthwise aligned with the card rails when the circuit card assembly is received within the slot.