Grounded Tree Plug With Protected Fuse Access and Overheat Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Standard electrical power cords for artificial pre-lighted Christmas trees often overheat due to excessive load, and existing designs fail to prevent access to fuses, posing a risk of electrical shock when the plug is inserted.
Innovation Solution
A non-standard female socket with raised side walls and a non-polarized male plug with mating grooves, combined with a fuse holder and access door mechanism, prevents inadvertent electrical connection and allows for a lower amperage rating, ensuring the fuse is inaccessible when the plug is inserted, and includes a safety cover to prevent disconnection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standard three-wire plug with fuse is used to power the tree, then the fuse provides protection against overheating, but the fuse becomes easily accessible and users may contact electrical conductors causing shock
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is divided into two separate components: a standard three-wire plug that provides power and grounding, and a separate two-prong non-polarized plug that contains the fuse. This segmentation allows the fuse to be isolated in a dedicated fuse holder away from the live electrical conductors, maintaining protection functionality while eliminating shock risk from fuse accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
A separate two-prong non-polarized plug acts as an intermediary component between the power source and the fuse holder. This intermediary structure allows the fuse to be connected to the electrical circuit without being directly accessible to users, as the two-prong plug cannot be inserted into a standard grounded outlet, thereby mediating between safety protection and user safety
2Ease of operation
If a standard two-prong non-polarized male electrical plug is used, then ease of connection is improved, but it cannot provide grounding protection and allows higher amperage that may overheat the cord
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the functionality of two separate plugs: a standard three-wire plug that provides power and grounding protection, and a separate two-prong non-polarized plug that provides fuse protection. By combining these two distinct plug types into a single integrated system, the invention achieves both grounding protection and fuse safety without requiring a single complex plug design
3Ease of repair
If the fuse is made accessible for easy replacement, then ease of maintenance is improved, but safety is compromised when the plug is inserted into a socket
Solution Approach 1:
The fuse holder is designed with dynamic accessibility: it can be easily accessed and opened when the plug is disconnected from the outlet for maintenance purposes, but becomes inaccessible and locked when the plug is inserted into a socket for operation. This dynamic design allows the fuse to be easily replaceable during maintenance while preventing access during operation to eliminate shock risk
Data Source
AI summary
An artificial lighted tree is presented with power routed through the trunk of the tree and three-wire safety grounding. The artificial lighted tree comprising a fused electrical plug having improved safety features comprising: a body portion surrounding respective first ends of a first, a second and a third electrical wire, the body portion further comprising a fuse holder embedded within an upper region of the body portion, and a fuse adapted to be releasably secured within the fuse holder via releasable securing means, a live blade in electrical communication with the first end of the first electrical wire, a neutral blade in electrical communication with the first end of the second electrical wire, a ground pin receptacle in electrical communication with the first end of the third electrical wire, wherein the body portion surrounds and maintains the live blade, neutral blade, and ground pin receptacle in spaced apart orientation corresponding to sockets on an electrical outlet.