Bloodsucking leeches have always had a bad reputation, but now there's a new leech that doesn't suck.
Conor Klein, a senior majoring in furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design, built the Outlet Regulator, a leech-inspired gadget that disconnects appliances when fully charged.
Klein said the purpose of the Regulator, which he constructed last semester, was two-fold: to bring attention to energy overconsumption and to revive the physicality of electronic appliances. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, standby devices — appliances that passively remain plugged into a power source — account for 5 to 10 percent of household electricity consumption. By creating an outlet that can disconnect appliances soon after they have reached their full battery capacity, these numbers would drop significantly, Klein said.
"Our lives are being converted into electronic appliances," Klein said. Because the number of appliances that have a standby button is increasing, the need for a device like this is also growing, he added.
Klein built the contraption in his class on biomimicry, a design discipline that focuses on using behaviors and structures from nature to inspire practical appliances. Because he is a functional designer, Klein focused on the behavioral characteristics of a leech, instead of on its structural or physical characteristics.
The entire idea stemmed from research that Klein read on parasitic leeches and how they draw nutrients from hosts, he said. In this case, electronic appliances such as coffee makers with standby buttons are like leeches because they draw electricity from their parent outlets, which are like leeches' hosts. But unlike leeches, electronic appliances do not know when to "stop sucking energy," Klein said, which is where the Regulator comes in. The gadget saves energy by simply disconnecting the device when it is left on standby, he said.
Charging appliances connect to an outlet via the Regulator. A cord physically detaches from the Regulator's main component when a countdown timer runs its course, Klein said, adding that the fact that the cord physically disconnects is just as important as the invention's function. "Physicality is disappearing," he said. By having the device's parts separate, the user can be certain that the appliance is working.
Andrew Mau, a 2009 RISD graduate who was Klein's sophomore studio teaching assistant, noted Klein's strong work ethic and diligence.
"Conor generally knows what he wants to accomplish and accomplishes it," Mau said.
Mau, who was present at the final critique for the Regulator, said the most important aspect of the Regulator was not that it was conserving energy, but instead that it served as a "physical reminder" of energy overconsumption.
So far, the Regulator has appeared on over 50 blogs. Klein said he has received corporate inquiries about the Regulator but declined to say which companies have contacted him.
"I didn't realize it'd get this much attention," Klein said.
