Air flow

The TS4500 tape library draws cool air in through the perforated holes in the front door and bottom front of the frame. Hot air vents through perforated holes in the back door and top back of the frame. The Sx5 frames do not have any perforated holes in the back door. However, the cool air inlet in the front and hot air outlet in the top back of the frame are the same as the other frames.

Refer to Air Flow - Front Isometric and Air Flow - Rear Isometric view. Cold air  1  enters the library from the front and hot air  2  exits out the back.

Air Flow - Front Isometric

Air Flow - Rear Isometric view

The FCA and tape drives have their own cooling as part of their packages, but air must be allowed to flow freely from the top of the library. With the top rack installed, air flows from the top of the library through a 2-inch gap in the bottom of the top rack. Internal components in the top rack must be mounted so that they do not interfere with the air flow through the 2-inch gap in the bottom of the top rack. The rear door of the top rack is perforated to allow the hot air to exit.

Note: For air to flow freely from the top of the library, do not stack cartridges, books, or other materials on the top of the library.
Note: For sizing total library air flow requirements, use 10 cubic feet per minute (cfm) per tape drive canister. For example, a library with a total of 16 tape drive canisters will draw 16 x 10 cfm = 160 cfm through the front, top, and bottom library openings and exhaust that air through the perforated vents in the back of the frame(s) that contain the tape drives.