Expandable card cage

A modular system for electrically interconnecting any number of printed circuit boards to a composite motherboard, the motherboard serving as a common connection for all of the printed circuit boards, said system comprising:

• a support module defined by a housing adapted to hold a fixed number of individual printed circuit boards, said support module including a cooling means for dissipating heat and a power supply of sufficient size to provide current to said fixed number of printed circuit boards;
• a motherboard mounted within the support module and having a generally planar configuration, said motherboard including a first connector means to facilitate the electrical connection of said fixed number of printed circuit boards thereto, and with each side edge of one opposed pair of side edges of the motherboard including a second electrical connector means, said second connector means being a male connector defined by a plurality of conductive elements formed in a spaced, comb-like array along said pair of side edges;
• and
• coupling means adapted to link the motherboard of one module to the motherboard of another module, said coupling means having a pair of electrically interconnected third connector means, each third connector means being defined by a female connector adapted to mate with the male connectors of the motherboard whereby a plurality of printed circuit boards can be electrically interconnected by mounting the desired number of said printed circuit boards in a sufficient number of said support modules and utilizing the coupling means to electrically link the motherboards of each module in series such that the combination of the motherboards and the coupling means defines a composite motherboard serving as a common connection for all the printed circuit boards.