Design and Development of Space Saving 3-Pin Power Plug using TRIZ

Abstract

—A conventional 3-pin plug has a bulky design that causes a hassle when it comes to storing and
packaging. Therefore, a space-saving 3-pin plug was developed with a rotary to linear movement
mechanism that was able to extrude out the prongs from the plug casing and retract in the prongs into the
plug casing by turning the knob at the bottom of the plug casing. The TRIZ method is used to conceive the
design concept, the Solidworks software is used to design and analyze the mechanism and 3D printing is
used to fabricate the space-saving 3-pin plug. A test rig was used to find out the fatigue limit of the
mechanism. The developed space-saving 3-pin plug showed a 41% reduction in size compared with the
conventional 3-pin plug. The fatigue test showed that the mechanism was able to withstand up to 1,500,000
cycles. The space 3-pin plug also registered a stable voltage, current, and temperature after 24 hours of
continuous usage. Additionally, the packaging size of the space-saving 3-pin plug was reduced by 18%
compared to the conventional 3-pin plug. Therefore, the proposed 3-pin plug takes up lesser space thus
being convenient in terms of storage and packaging.