Presentation

Kevin Brown and Rowan Roudebush

Kevin's Brief:

Flat Power: an extension cord that has outlets that slide along it and has no exposed wires. 

Flat Power is a safe way to distribute power across a room with few outlets so people working in the room don't have to compete for extension cords or "daisy-chain" them across the room. Daisy-chaining--pluging one extension cord into another, is against regulation and could be dangerous. The greatest challenge in designing the cord came from concern over wire exposure. A double zipper mechanism was used to keep the zipper open only under the outlet so the wires would not be dangerous. The outlet box was made with a hinge so the user could easily get into it and fix it if a wire is broken or the zipper is caught. The bottom layer has three rails that are held down on the track with springs so that the outlet doesn't come off and cause something bad to happen.