Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

H Craig Heffner

Stanley Katsuyoshi Wakamiya

Martin Brokner Christiansen

Leonard George Chorosinski

Keith R Kirkwood

A method of maintaining a circuit card in a card rack and a circuit card rack system are disclosed. A card rack including a laterally oriented clamping slot is provided. The clamping slot is at least partially formed from a temperature-contractible material. A circuit card having a clamped side region is provided. At least a portion of the clamped side region is inserted into the clamping slot. A predetermined temperature differential is applied to the clamping slot to reduce a longitudinal dimension of at least a portion of the clamping slot. A compressive force is exerted on the portion of the clamped side region which is located longitudinally within the clamping slot, via thermal expansion of the clamping slot.

Circuit card rack system and method

An apparatus for, and method of, providing a desired temperature-differential circuit card environment includes a plurality of card units. Each card unit comprises a first thermal plate having front and back first plate sides oriented in a lateral-longitudinal plane, the first thermal plate operating at a first plate temperature. A second thermal plate has front and back second plate sides oriented in the lateral-longitudinal plane, the second thermal plate operating at a second plate temperature. A coupler is oriented in the lateral-longitudinal plane and is connected to front and/or back first plate sides and to the front and/or back second plate sides to form a card unit. The card units are arranged in a transversely oriented stack with the front first and second plate sides of a second card unit being directly transversely adjacent the back first and second plate sides of the first card unit.

Apparatus and method for providing a temperature-differential circuit card environment

A circuit card assembly includes a substrate having longitudinally spaced first and second substrate end edges and transversely spaced top and bottom substrate surfaces. The top and/or bottom substrate surface has first, second, and third substrate regions. The first substrate region is directly laterally adjacent the first substrate side edge. The third substrate region is directly laterally adjacent the second substrate side edge. The second substrate region is located between the first and third substrate regions. At least one circuit trace is located on the selected substrate surface. The portion of the circuit trace in the first substrate region is made of only a first material. The portion of the circuit trace in the third substrate region is made of only a second material. The portion of the circuit trace in the second substrate region is made of both the first and second materials.

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Ellicott City, MD, United States of America

H Craig Heffner