Can there be any more absurd idea to be displayed in IEEE Spectrum than the Coleman "Powerworks" power inverter for cars (Resources, Nov 2007)?? Granted, there are by now myriad devices accompanying our auto trips which require electrical support. But there's something drastically wrong with this picture - the engine's alternator generates A/C, that's converted to DC to recharge the battery and is distributed to a cigarette lighter -- a cigarette lighter -- into which we're supposed to insert a cigar-shaped plug to send DC power to an A/C inverter into which we plug our laptops DC power converter. That doesn't seem like sound engineering - it's more like Edison and Tesla are still fighting it out in the backseat of my car.
What's wrong with a simple DC distribution network in our cars, with standard, simple, small, purpose-built DC plugs, into which we can directly plug laptops, music players, GPS units, cell phones, DVD players, tablet PCs, and PDAs?
We've pretty much banned cigarette smoking in cars anyway; why not get rid of this vestigal infernal hack and put in place a professionally engineered electical system? That sounds like a job for the IEEE.
(and then we can put the same thing under my desk!)
Posted by netrc at November 16, 2007 02:01 PM