When a heat frame doesn’t provide the necessary thermal transfer, there is a clamshell conduction cooled assembly. Clamshell CCAs work in conjunction with the Wedge Loks to provide the board retention, but due to their design they also provide the highest level of heat dissipation. They work by sandwiching the PCB between specially machined cooling plates which are designed to accommodate the landscape of the board, hence the cooling plates are often referred to as having a “reverse skyline”. With the use of thermal pads or paste, heat is transferred directly from the hot components on the PCB to the clamshell CCA cooling plates and then out through the Wedge Loks. In addition to superior thermal performance, Clamshell CCAs also provide some degree of Ingress Protection and Electro-Mechanical Compatibility. For these reasons, Clamshell CCAs are ideal in rugged applications where convection cooling is not an option in due to air borne contaminates, applications where there simply is no air such as undersea drilling and space applications, or those applications where fan failure cannot be tolerated. All clamshell CCAs are custom designed, involving a collaborative effort to conceptualize, design, test, and manufacture the solution.