Modular Shower Cabin For Aircrafts

Abstract

The invention relates to a modular shower cabin for aircrafts comprising an integratable faucet unit (6), and integrated technical facilities, like for example a water drain (15), illumination, a ventilation device, oxygen masks or the like, wherein the shower cabin comprises a center portion (2), in which an entrance area formed by a recess (5) and a mounting for the faucet unit (6) are provided, and wherein the shower cabin comprises a ceiling portion (4) adjoining the center portion (2) at the top, and a bottom portion (3) adjoining the center portion (2) at the bottom, and wherein the technical facilities are allocated to the ceiling portion (4) and / or to the bottom portion (3).

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of German Patent Application No. DE 102008053228.2, filed on Oct. 27, 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The invention relates to a modular shower cabin for aircrafts.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0003]In aircrafts, shower cabins are provided for example as special equipment or in the first class area, where these then need to meet highest optical as well as haptic quality demands being standard in this class. These shower cabins further need to comprise certain technical facilities, like for example illumination, faucets, water drain, ventilation, oxygen masks, which preferably are pre-assembled with the shower cabin when being mounted in the aircraft, in order to reduce the time required for the initial mounting in the aircraft. As the space available in the aircraft is limited, the shower cabin itself and the arrangement of the connections as well as of ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The basic idea of the invention is that, turning away from the two-part solution known from prior art, now a three-part configuration consisting of a center portion, a ceiling portion adjoining at the top and a bottom portion adjoining at the bottom is proposed with the technical facilities being allocated to the ceiling portion and / or the bottom portion which are easier to access and / or easier to dismount. Furthermore, the entrance area is formed by one single recess located in the center portion so that it can be produced with high shape accuracy regardless of a joint. As the entrance area itself can be produced with essentially higher shape accuracy, a door which is usually provided in the entrance area can be sealed much better and a possibly provided panelling can be mounted with essentially higher fitting accuracy. Moreover, the shower cabin due to the proposed three-part basic configuration no longer comprises an irritating, horizontally running joint within the visible area so that the optical overall impression is substantially improved thereby. Visible area here shall be considered as the center portion within the observer's field of vision so that a joint between the center portion and the bottom portion or the ceiling portion can of course be provided at the upper and / or the lower edge of the shower cabin without leaving the idea of the invention. If necessary, the joints between the center portion and the ceiling portion and the bottom portion can however be covered very easily by the center portion enclosing the ceiling portion and the bottom portion from the outside. A further advantage of the invention is that the mounting for the faucet unit can be located at any height in the center portion, in particular at the door handle height standardized in aircraft construction, without the need for taking into account the previously present horizontal joint.

[0010]It is further proposed that the center portion is formed by at least two structural components, and that the structural components are connected with each other at their vertically running sides. Thereby, the center portion can be formed to have different cross-sectional geometries, for example as a barrel having a circular cross-section, as a cuboid having a rectangular cross-section, or with any radii in adaptation to the mounting conditions in the aircraft cabin. It is important in this respect that the joints run vertically or are hidden in the form of vertically running edges and thus do not cut the recesses.

[0011]It is further proposed that at least one of the structural components has a radius, and that the structural component at the end of the radius passes into a planar side wall. As the shower cabin often is located adjacent to side walls of an aircraft cabin which are arranged at an angle in particular at a right angle to each other, a free space between the shower cabin and the side walls adjacent to each other is provided by the radius, in which free space the faucet unit can be attached to the shower cabin from the outside, whereas with the planar side wall the shower cabin then rests against the side wall of the aircraft cabin.

[0012]In this case, it is particularly advantageous if at least two structural components having an identical radius are provided and the structural components are joined together in such a way that the planar opposite side walls are located to be parallel to each other. In this case, structural components having an identical basic shape can be used which can be produced in a joint form or a joint manufacturing process. By using a joint form for producing the structural components the manufacturing costs for the shower cabin are significantly reduced.

[0013]It is particularly easy to adapt the shaping of the shower cabin to the mounting conditions available in the aircraft cabin by the planar side walls adjacent to each other having different widths. The structural components in particular can then initially be produced to be oversized and subsequently they can be adapted to the respective mounting conditions by individually cutting the planar side walls to size. The only unchangeable geometry is the radius to which the faucet unit is connected.

[0014]It is further proposed that at least one ventilation gap is provided between the center portion and the ceiling portion. The ventilation gap can be realized by the geometric design of the outer contour of the ceiling portion or the geometric design of the inner contour of the center portion so that it automatically takes shape when the portions are joined together. The cross-section of the ventilation gap in particular can be chosen independent of other components in such a way that the humid air present in the shower cabin can be sucked off to a sufficient extent and silently.

Problems solved by technology

It is a disadvantage of this embodiment that the upper and the lower segment have to be joined together very accurately, in order that the joint is preferably not visible at all or at least runs evenly so that the harmonic overall impression is preferably not irritated by the joint and the large recess of the entrance area taking shape when the segments are joined together is as accurate to shape as possible.

Furthermore, due to integrating the technical facilities into the segments it is not possible to individually replace them in the event of repair, as they are hard to access from inside the shower cabin.

In an extreme case, the whole shower cabin needs to be dismounted for repairing one of the technical facilities involving great effort and high costs.

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