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It's as much a hovercraft as a pancake is a waffle.
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I propose installing outlets in one's home that, instead of electrical prongs, contain half of a transformer. The "plug" would contain the other half of the transformer. This idea would work similar to the newer electric toothbrush designs, with one part of the transformer in the base, and the other
part in the toothbrush.
The two great things about this would be:
1. There would be no electrical contacts, so they would be much safer.
2. The other half of the transformer in the appliance-end could have any number of wire wraps, so the appliance could get basically any voltage it needs.
To prevent any dangerous magnetic fields, the wall coil would only be energized if the plug were to snap into the outlet and hit a specially designed switch that would be difficult to trip with anything else.
Field coil wallpaper
http://www.halfbake..._20coil_20wallpaper
Already HalfBaked. [phoenix, Aug 05 2002]
(?) Smart Power Outlets
http://www.halfbake...got the idea from.
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Smart_20power_20outlets#993300675 [fogfreak, Aug 05 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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WOW! why didn't I think of that... I'm amazed this hasn't been done... with more and more items that need a lower voltage via a wall wart, and more concern about child safety. I'd buy that for a dollar. (or more) |
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Finally, I have an idea that doesn't plummet to fish-bone city (For 10 minutes at least). |
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Fine. You'll have to standardise on the dimensions and layout of the pole pieces. You have my magnetic croissant. |
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You're going to have some transformer power losses (maybe around 2%). |
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It would be a lot more than that. Conventional transformers, with the primary and secondary in intimate association, can achieve 95% - 99% efficiency, but if the junction between the windings is as wide as must be the case here, that figure will drop radically. |
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As good an idea as it is, there is another side to the coin. Many companies will want the rights to the *actual built-in wall wart* design/ configuration/implementation. This is likely why it hasn't been baked. Conventional Croissant. |
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Yep. As angel says they'll be some power loss as well as increased radio 'noise' in the room there the socket is used. Nothing to cause a killer blow to a fine idea like this, though. Croissant. |
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I keep reading this as "In-Wall Wal-mart". Ugh. |
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If you use a higher frequency than 50 - 60 Hz (say 5000) the whole thing can be smaller, lighter and much more efficient. And no more problems with 110V/230V appliances ..... like it. Croissant. |
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If you scaled this up so that you used it for mains power appliances instead of low voltage stuff would you have to remove your car keys/pocket change/fillings before entering the room? |
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phoenix, that's not where I got the idea from. I got the idea from Smart Power Outlets. I just figured that transformer coils would be easier than electronic communication and switching. |
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blissmiss, I hadn't heard of it either: |
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n. A small power-supply brick with integral male plug, designed to plug directly into a wall outlet; called a `wart' because when installed on a power strip it tends to block up at least one more socket than it uses.. These are frequently associated with modems and other small electronic devices which would become unacceptably bulky or hot if they had power supplies on board (there are other reasons as well having to do with the cost of UL certification). |
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St John's Wort is a herbal treatment for depression. |
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I used to run into problems-especially with my computer-with the "wall warts" as you call them, but I got for my computer a power strip with 3 plugs spaced farther apart for the "warts". |
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btw, I always called them "power blocks". |
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Aren't "power blocks" the things that Power Rangers use on bad guys? |
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I guess, if you got hit with one of those things at speed... |
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Not to contradict. but hasn't it been proved that magnetic fields are not dangerous? if they are then why don't you use stacked layers of ferrous and non-ferrous layered as shielding. |
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Standardization shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just get the IEC to set the dimensions and everybody is happy (and if you can buy votes on the commission and have your company's dimsensions defined as the standard so much the better). |
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I will bun this one simply because the US is in need of a new electrical standard that can co-exist with the common double-phase 120/240 AC voltage standards. A 15-amp 12 volt AC recepticle would cover most low-voltage devices. At the most, electronics would need a rectifier, a couple of resistors, and perhaps a small step-up transformer in the event that the device requires 24-30 volts. Other than that most other devices that requre 9 to 18 volts will run perfectly on a 12 volt power supply. |
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