Retractable Power Plug Pin Structure With Spiral-Groove Rotation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing power plugs with fixed pins occupy large space, cause inconvenience during transportation, are prone to damage or injury, and pose safety hazards due to exposure and corrosion.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable and retractable structure for power plugs, featuring a lower and upper housing with spiral grooves and limit bars, allows pins to retract into the upper housing upon rotation, using spiral grooves and limit bars for stability and guidance, and includes conductive elastic pieces for electrical connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fixed pins are used in power plug, then electrical connection is ensured, but space occupation increases and transportation convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the pins movable rather than fixed. The pins can extend outward for electrical connection and retract inward for compact storage. This is achieved through a retractable mechanism where pins slide within guide grooves and are held in position by elastic pieces, allowing the power plug to transition between extended and retracted states to resolve the contradiction between connection reliability and space occupation.
2Reliability
If fixed pins are used in power plug, then electrical connection is ensured, but safety deteriorates due to corrosion and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The retractable pin mechanism allows pins to be retracted into protective housings when not in use, shielding them from environmental factors that cause corrosion and damage. The pins are only exposed when needed for electrical connection, minimizing their exposure time to harmful factors while maintaining connection reliability when extended.
3Reliability
If fixed pins are used in power plug, then electrical connection is ensured, but transportation convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a retractable pin system that can be manually or automatically retracted into the power plug housing during transportation. This dynamic configuration allows the pins to be protected and compacted when not in use, significantly improving transportation convenience while maintaining electrical connection capability when needed.
4Volume of moving object
If retractable mechanism is added, then space occupation is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The retractable mechanism is segmented into independent components: guide grooves for pin movement, elastic pieces for positioning, retractable circular plates for control, and spiral grooves for rotational retraction. This segmentation allows each component to perform a specific function with simple structure, reducing overall complexity while achieving the retraction function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs nesting by placing the retractable pins within the power plug housing, with the retractable circular plate nested within the upper housing. The pins can be stored within the housing volume when retracted, and the entire retraction mechanism is compactly integrated into the existing power plug structure, minimizing additional space requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a rotatable and retractable structure for power plug, including a lower housing, an upper housing, and pins, where the lower housing is fixedly connected with a lower cylinder, which has spiral grooves on inner wall of the lower cylinder; an upper cylinder is fixedly connected inside the upper housing, and the first limit bar is fixedly connected to the side wall of the lower cylinder, the lower cylinder is sleeved inside the upper cylinder, and the first limit bar is in contact with the top of the upper cylinder, the pins slide on the upper housing, and a retractable circular plate is fixedly connected with one end of the pins where the pins extend into the upper housing, a cylinder is fixedly connected on the side wall of the retractable circular plate and slides inside the spiral groove.