New 13 amp plug design

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I found a link to this posted on another forum. The humble 13 amp plug gets a makeover.

While I'm not to keen on the single version (handy for carrying about with laptops but the faceplate will get lost very easily) the 3 way adapter is awesome.


EDIT: The faceplate seems to be built in. I take it all back. It's completely awesome.

 

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Tidy.

Surprised it hasn't got an apple logo on it...

 

Was gonna say the same thing.

 

Great design and concept, sadly won't get off the ground as there is too much involved in pushing it as standard and too much money involved.

 

I can see companies using it for travel irons, laptops, portable video players, cameras, mobile phone chargers etc.

A smaller plug would be great for such devices.

Brilliant design !

 

I think if they do this right it could take off.
If I was the designer, I'd practically give away the right to manufacture plugs, but I'd make them pay through the nose for manufacturing sockets. Do that for a few years and try to get some major manufacturers to ship the plug as standard and it might just work.

 

As a plug on it's own, it may struggle a bit.
I mean, how much trouble is a plug?
If you're carting a laptop, a cable, a boxy transformer etc around anyway, it's neither here nor there.

The multi-plug adapter is sweet though - my house is full of trailing sockets which is a real pain.
Like the USB socket too for charging iPods etc.


Wouldn't fancy changing one of the f***ers though.

Why's he got it upside down in picture 5?
That's clearly not going to fit.

And why's he taken a dump on his socket in the last one.
Or is that supposed to be art?

 

An interesting design but one I think could cause a lot of issues regarding usability. if it could stay in its narrow form it would be ideal but obviously it then would need adaptors to run in normal plug sockets.

The problem i would imagine is in the twisting of the pins, wires dont like to bend back and to and if used reguarly would break inside the plug. if contacts were used instead then resistance/wear issues would be encountered. There may be a good way around this, i'm by far no expert lol so please correct me.

It does look good in the multi adaptor though.

 

No adapters needed, they fit a standard socket. Yes maybe on usability for people with disabilities, but thats probably not the intended market, neither is large machinery like lawn mowers, hovers etc.

I expect the live pins are two solid pieces of metal with plastic moulded around them.

The plastic acts as a bearing allowing the swivel and there will be two matching contacts for the pins to meet on swivel.


I just bought a new camera, the charger and plug are both bigger than the camera !!!

This would be great, people are ditching laptops with clunky transformers, getting ipods, ipads, netbooks, archos, iphones, psp's etc, who the hell wants a clunky plug in their travel bag from 1940 ?

In fact I think he should go further and possibly make a plug with various detachable cables.

Its an Excellent Idea.

 

Not in there narrow form as mentioned in the quote lol

But contacts wear and also the surface deteoriates causing high resistance between the contacts.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, its certainly an excellent idea but it could have issues that restrict its lifespan.

I think for small/portable devices its ideal and can see it being developed. Some plugs are huge because of the electronics inside though so i wonder if that would pose a problem in some cases?

 

Yes agreed the contacts might corrode, my idea was maybe one small static plug that could be shared between mulitple devices with multiple cables, you could then ditch the swivel idea and face plate entirely.

Of course you would lose the safety of multiple fuses, but people risk this anyway with adpters.

Transformers that drops the voltage and current down need a certain number of windings around a magnet and produce heat, so yes maybe, not sure how this works, things like phone cargers and battery chargers can be quite small, Is this because a small current draw requires a small transformer ?

 

Yes, partly that the windings on the step down transformer can be made with finer wire for low current / power devices. Also laptops typically require around 19V DC and that voltagle has to be very stable and smooth, hence the need for proper power regulation circuity, which adds to the size of the unit.

I do like the plug, even if it is a rip off of an Aussie telephone plug