6 ms·

Folding Plug System

174 points by r7000 17y ago

yangyang 17y ago
That looks very good. I really hope they become commercially available and commonplace.
makmanalp 17y ago
One of the best workarounds I've seen. Sometimes full solutions are just not possible (i.e. changing the whole standard plug system in a country).
alaricsp 17y ago
Nice! I wonder how well the moving contacts to bring the power from the live and neutral to the power cable will survive, though - they may become worn and intermittent with time. Do we really need the fold-out wings? Could we not just rotate the live and neutral pins into place, then plug it in? Or do the standards require a certain outline to keep fingers from the plugging-in bits?
- hailpixel 17y ago
  The UK is notorious for their safety precautions. Not only do all plugs have a fuse in them, but wall outlets are usually behind a local fuse even before a home's circuit breaker. The fold out wings provide a great way to minimize the possibility of contact with the live contact. And it's just so pretty!
  - axod 17y ago
    ... and flimsy. I would not trust it.
    - hailpixel 17y ago
      Indeed. The biggest problem is going to be rotary connection for the live and neutral contacts, but the actual housing would be quite solid I'd imagine. Thermoplastic at those dimensions can be extremely durable.
  - didroe 17y ago
    >wall outlets are usually behind a local fuse even before a home's circuit breaker I live in the UK and I don't know anyone with fuses in the actual outlet. We normally have a circuit breaker and fuse in the plug. For things like my PC, I also use 4-way extension cords which have an additional fuse and surge protector.
- cstross 17y ago
  Given that the UK mains standard runs on 230 volts AC, yes, we need safety precautions. Touching a 110 volt terminal: painful but probably not serious. Touching a 230 volt terminal: very painful and quite possibly very serious.
edu 17y ago
Cool! Would like to know how he made the first prototype
- hailpixel 17y ago
  Looks like good ol' fashion resin 3D printing or rough form injection molding. Most university ID shops have those facilities now-a-days. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling more specifically)
andyf 17y ago
I often wonder why plug design is drastically different between North America, Europe, and Asia.
- gb 17y ago
  There's more to it than that even: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets
dazmax 17y ago
It's great because Apple pretty much has to license it, given how much pride they take in their power cord design.
ccc3 17y ago
A brilliant design. And a brilliant design presentation.
zv 17y ago
Idea is good, but it is still workaround for bigger problem. World needs better designed power plugs
axod 17y ago
This was posted on Reddit about a year ago (Or more?). IMHO it would be far too flimsy to be safe/usable, and wouldn't pass safety regulations. Something inbetween US and UK plugs would be nice. UK is rock solid, can't bend pins, has no chance of sparks, will never fall out of the socket, has fuse + other safety features (Covered pins), socket only opens Live+Neutral once earth is inserted etc, but is a bit clunky. OTOH, US plugs spark, get bent pins, fall out of the wall, don't require an earth+fuse, are pretty dangerous IMHO, but on the plus side they're pretty flat :/
- weavejester 17y ago
  The europlugs have some pretty solid pins and don't seem to fall out of sockets, but they don't have an earth pin or fuses.
  - jrg 17y ago
    Of course some euro plugs have what I'd call a "sneaky" earth, that isn't a pin but simply a contact on the other two parts of the socket and plug. See the two pictures in this (quickly googled) discussion, for a clear illustration - http://forum.expatica.com/print.html&client=printer&f=135&t=112082 http://forum.expatica.com/print.html&client=printer&...
- danw 17y ago
  A year ago? I'm sure it was created by a product design student at the Royal College of Art a few months ago. The site dates it as 20 April 2009.
- jp_sc 17y ago
  The euro plugs don't fall out of the wall only if the plug is euro-plug only. Otherwise sometimes they don't even make good contact.
- enneff 17y ago
  The Australian standard is similar to what you describe. It tends to be a lot sturdier than the US design, while not as big as the UK plug.
- 17y ago
mightymouse 17y ago
I wonder what material they've confirmed they'll be using to ensure that it doesn't just snap and break under the regular wear of plug usage.
natemartin 17y ago
I love seeing the sequence from design -> prototype. I agree with some of the other posters though, any time you have a lot of current going through a connection that rotates / moves, you have the potential of reliability problems. However, I don't think those are insurmountable problems, and good engineering could make this a reality. One advantage is, if I recall correctly, UK is 220V as opposed to US 110V, so less current will be flowing through those contacts.
- weavejester 17y ago
  The UK is traditionally 240V, but I believe it's 230V now, so as to be in line with the rest of the EU.
  - danw 17y ago
    230V -6% +10%, which is just a fancy standards hack to make all of EU technically 230 without having to change voltage from 240
- yhuiuyggb 17y ago
  And what's wrong with bare wires pushed into the socket with matches?
  - natemartin 17y ago
    That's how real engineers do it.
RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
I thought I'd seen this before. A quick search found this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=670856 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=670856 If you're interested in this, you might like to read the discussion there as well. Many points are being re-made.
tsuraan 17y ago
A bit off-topic, but does anybody know how that site is displaying its video? I don't have flash or moonlight installed, so it was a bit of a shock to hear my computer actually playing a video feed. I browsed their HTML source, but I didn't see any object tags, video tags, nor anything else that would obviously play video.
- lallysingh 17y ago
  The page gave me a "plugin not installed" error (from firefox) for quicktime.
sh1mmer 17y ago
I love this. Having used UK plugs for most of my life I know how cumbersome they can be. My only concern is that many devices which change voltages such as computer power supplies often have some hefty capacitors in them. Even with the regular plugs I've occasionally got shocked (enough to hurt my fingers) by touching both pins while the device is plugged in. If people have to rotate the pins in order to use the plug it's possible some devices with capacitors would be less safe to use as there is a risk that the capacitors would empty whenever you tried to rotate the pins.
jasonkester 17y ago
That's really cool. I find that I can get by with a Euro plug pretty much anywhere except the USA. Southeast Asia, Oz, and other places that standardize on US (or AUS) plugs often also accept the round-pinned EU plug. Here in the UK, I just keep a teaspoon in my laptop bag for cramming into the ground slot. Thus, opening the other two holes wide enough to jam the EU plug in. AC adapters on laptops already know how to handle any voltage/frequency combo in the world. It's just a matter of of physically cramming the metal bits into the socket.

174 points by r7000 17y ago

That looks very good. I really hope they become commercially available and commonplace.

One of the best workarounds I've seen. Sometimes full solutions are just not possible (i.e. changing the whole standard plug system in a country).

alaricsp 17y ago

Nice! I wonder how well the moving contacts to bring the power from the live and neutral to the power cable will survive, though - they may become worn and intermittent with time. Do we really need the fold-out wings? Could we not just rotate the live and neutral pins into place, then plug it in? Or do the standards require a certain outline to keep fingers from the plugging-in bits?

hailpixel 17y ago
The UK is notorious for their safety precautions. Not only do all plugs have a fuse in them, but wall outlets are usually behind a local fuse even before a home's circuit breaker. The fold out wings provide a great way to minimize the possibility of contact with the live contact. And it's just so pretty!
- axod 17y ago
  ... and flimsy. I would not trust it.
  - hailpixel 17y ago
    Indeed. The biggest problem is going to be rotary connection for the live and neutral contacts, but the actual housing would be quite solid I'd imagine. Thermoplastic at those dimensions can be extremely durable.
- didroe 17y ago
  >wall outlets are usually behind a local fuse even before a home's circuit breaker I live in the UK and I don't know anyone with fuses in the actual outlet. We normally have a circuit breaker and fuse in the plug. For things like my PC, I also use 4-way extension cords which have an additional fuse and surge protector.
cstross 17y ago
Given that the UK mains standard runs on 230 volts AC, yes, we need safety precautions. Touching a 110 volt terminal: painful but probably not serious. Touching a 230 volt terminal: very painful and quite possibly very serious.

edu 17y ago

Cool! Would like to know how he made the first prototype

hailpixel 17y ago
Looks like good ol' fashion resin 3D printing or rough form injection molding. Most university ID shops have those facilities now-a-days. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling more specifically)

andyf 17y ago

I often wonder why plug design is drastically different between North America, Europe, and Asia.

gb 17y ago
There's more to it than that even: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

dazmax 17y ago

It's great because Apple pretty much has to license it, given how much pride they take in their power cord design.

ccc3 17y ago

A brilliant design. And a brilliant design presentation.

zv 17y ago

Idea is good, but it is still workaround for bigger problem. World needs better designed power plugs

axod 17y ago

This was posted on Reddit about a year ago (Or more?). IMHO it would be far too flimsy to be safe/usable, and wouldn't pass safety regulations. Something inbetween US and UK plugs would be nice. UK is rock solid, can't bend pins, has no chance of sparks, will never fall out of the socket, has fuse + other safety features (Covered pins), socket only opens Live+Neutral once earth is inserted etc, but is a bit clunky. OTOH, US plugs spark, get bent pins, fall out of the wall, don't require an earth+fuse, are pretty dangerous IMHO, but on the plus side they're pretty flat :/

weavejester 17y ago
The europlugs have some pretty solid pins and don't seem to fall out of sockets, but they don't have an earth pin or fuses.
- jrg 17y ago
  Of course some euro plugs have what I'd call a "sneaky" earth, that isn't a pin but simply a contact on the other two parts of the socket and plug. See the two pictures in this (quickly googled) discussion, for a clear illustration - http://forum.expatica.com/print.html&client=printer&f=135&t=112082 http://forum.expatica.com/print.html&client=printer&...
danw 17y ago
A year ago? I'm sure it was created by a product design student at the Royal College of Art a few months ago. The site dates it as 20 April 2009.
jp_sc 17y ago
The euro plugs don't fall out of the wall only if the plug is euro-plug only. Otherwise sometimes they don't even make good contact.
enneff 17y ago
The Australian standard is similar to what you describe. It tends to be a lot sturdier than the US design, while not as big as the UK plug.
17y ago

mightymouse 17y ago

I wonder what material they've confirmed they'll be using to ensure that it doesn't just snap and break under the regular wear of plug usage.

natemartin 17y ago

I love seeing the sequence from design -> prototype. I agree with some of the other posters though, any time you have a lot of current going through a connection that rotates / moves, you have the potential of reliability problems. However, I don't think those are insurmountable problems, and good engineering could make this a reality. One advantage is, if I recall correctly, UK is 220V as opposed to US 110V, so less current will be flowing through those contacts.

weavejester 17y ago
The UK is traditionally 240V, but I believe it's 230V now, so as to be in line with the rest of the EU.
- danw 17y ago
  230V -6% +10%, which is just a fancy standards hack to make all of EU technically 230 without having to change voltage from 240
yhuiuyggb 17y ago
And what's wrong with bare wires pushed into the socket with matches?
- natemartin 17y ago
  That's how real engineers do it.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

I thought I'd seen this before. A quick search found this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=670856 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=670856 If you're interested in this, you might like to read the discussion there as well. Many points are being re-made.

tsuraan 17y ago

A bit off-topic, but does anybody know how that site is displaying its video? I don't have flash or moonlight installed, so it was a bit of a shock to hear my computer actually playing a video feed. I browsed their HTML source, but I didn't see any object tags, video tags, nor anything else that would obviously play video.

lallysingh 17y ago
The page gave me a "plugin not installed" error (from firefox) for quicktime.

sh1mmer 17y ago

I love this. Having used UK plugs for most of my life I know how cumbersome they can be. My only concern is that many devices which change voltages such as computer power supplies often have some hefty capacitors in them. Even with the regular plugs I've occasionally got shocked (enough to hurt my fingers) by touching both pins while the device is plugged in. If people have to rotate the pins in order to use the plug it's possible some devices with capacitors would be less safe to use as there is a risk that the capacitors would empty whenever you tried to rotate the pins.

jasonkester 17y ago

That's really cool. I find that I can get by with a Euro plug pretty much anywhere except the USA. Southeast Asia, Oz, and other places that standardize on US (or AUS) plugs often also accept the round-pinned EU plug. Here in the UK, I just keep a teaspoon in my laptop bag for cramming into the ground slot. Thus, opening the other two holes wide enough to jam the EU plug in. AC adapters on laptops already know how to handle any voltage/frequency combo in the world. It's just a matter of of physically cramming the metal bits into the socket.