Flexible door for aircraft seat unit

Abstract

Flexible door (10) for accessing a seat unit (100) for an aircraft passenger, in particular for an aeroplane passenger, characterized in that the door comprises a plurality of parallel slats (11) articulated longitudinally with respect to one another and connected transversely by at least one tensioner (13) providing flexibility to said door.

Description

[0001] Flexible door for aircraft seat unit

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present invention belongs to the field of passenger seats for transport vehicles, in particular airliners, and relates more particularly to a flexible door for an aircraft seat unit.

[0004] The present invention finds a direct, but not exclusive, application in the layout of a business class of an airliner.

[0005] STATE OF THE ART

[0006] Passenger comfort is a key component in aircraft seat design, especially when the aircraft offers an enhanced comfort class such as business class. However, airlines operating the aircraft often seek to maximize cabin capacity for more cost-effective flights while maintaining an adequate level of comfort.

[0007] This objective is leading airlines to turn to denser cabin layouts, including in business class, in which the higher comfort seats, particularly those convertible into beds, are arranged in a more or less ingenious way to obtain the greatest possible density for a given level of comfort.

[0008] Regardless of the proposed layout, the seats are arranged in successive transverse rows along the part of the cabin concerned by the said layout. The pitch between these rows defines the spacing between two successive seats and therefore the passenger's passage width.

[0009] This longitudinal spacing, called "seat pitch" or simply "pitch" in specialist jargon, is subject to regulatory requirements in terms of dimensions and must allow passengers to access and exit the seat without difficulty. To this end, the regulations set minimum values ​​for access width to the passenger seat. Depending on whether the seat unit includes a door or not, the minimum passage widths may vary.

[0010] Thus in a seat unit 1, such as that of the prior art shown in figures 1 and 2, the width of the passage and therefore the size of the door 2 conditions the pitch and the maximum density in the cabin.

[0011] In fact, when the seat unit has direct access (one passenger does not pass in front of another to reach their seat), it is equipped with a door.

[0012] In known solutions, the doors are rigid and often mounted sliding in a shell of the seat unit.

[0013] With reference to figures 1 and 2, each door 2 slides in a shell 3 which necessarily has a sufficient size to receive said door.

[0014] To the extent that the door 2 must be able to fit almost completely into the shell 3 to clear the passage, when it is in the open position as shown in broken lines in detail A of figure 2, the shell 3 has a dimension in the sliding direction of the door at least equal to that of the door in the same direction.

[0015] The rigid nature of the door therefore does not allow for a reduction in the size of the shell, on which the maximum density of the cabin directly depends. It therefore becomes problematic with this classic design to increase the density of the cabin while maintaining a regulatory passage width.

[0016] For example, for qualification purposes, the minimum passage width must be 15” above 25” in height and 9” below this height.

[0017] This problem of the bulkiness of rigid sliding doors has been encountered in other areas and has led to the development of flexible doors, made up of parts hinged together, which can be stored in small spaces by bending or rolling up like roller shutters.

[0018] One of the very first patented flexible doors was the door described in patent US490448 of 1893. This is in fact a door made up of a plurality of parallel articulated slats allowing it to wrap around a vertical roller. The use of such flexible doors with articulated slats is known in various applications. Such doors are for example described in documents US4432591 and US20080272617. However, these doors are not transposable as is in the aeronautical field to equip seating units for the following reasons.

[0019] On the one hand, they would require guides and a specific winding mechanism to open and close them, either manual and therefore laborious and not suitable for business class aircraft, or automatic and therefore very expensive.

[0020] On the other hand, they would require a storage box of reduced size along the axis of the door, but of significant thickness unlike the thin shells generally used in aircraft seat units.

[0021] For all these reasons, no previous solution proposes to use a soft door in an aircraft seat unit.

[0022] In addition to the limited spacing between rows, another problem with rigid doors is jamming in the event of an emergency evacuation. In a panic, a passenger can block the rigid door from sliding. To prevent this from happening in the event of an evacuation, rigid doors are equipped with an emergency system.

[0023] PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] The present invention aims to overcome the disadvantages of the state of the art set out above and proposes an innovative door making it possible to increase the density of an aircraft cabin while preserving passenger comfort and respecting the regulatory widths of passage and pitch.

[0025] Another advantage of the invention is that it eliminates the need for emergency evacuation systems, as the passenger can pass through the closed door, like a saloon door.

[0026] To this end, the present invention relates to an access door to a passenger seat unit of an aircraft, in particular an airplane, comprising a plurality of slats hinged to each other and connected by at least one tensioner, allowing said door to be flexible.

[0027] Such a flexible door allows, for example, to have a regulatory 9-inch passage (because it is greater than 7 inches) and suitable for the comfort of business class. This width thus reduces the pitch from 38 inches to 33 inches in certain cabin arrangements and therefore allows for increased cabin density. Advantageously, the slats are juxtaposed parallel and hinged along their lengths.

[0028] According to one embodiment, at least one tensioner is placed at each end of said door.

[0029] According to one embodiment, the door further comprises a slider at each end of each slat, crossed by at least one tensioner.

[0030] Each tensioner is, for example, an elastic rod with sufficient length to connect all the slats.

[0031] According to one embodiment, the adjacent slats are separated by a slot over a major part of their length.

[0032] The present invention also relates to a passenger seat unit for an aircraft, in particular an airplane, comprising a flexible door as shown.

[0033] More particularly, in such a seat unit, the door is preferably slidably mounted between two parallel and curved panels of a shell.

[0034] Alternatively, the door can be opened by flexing, under the action of a push, without sliding.

[0035] The present invention also relates to an arrangement of an aircraft cabin, in particular of an airplane, comprising at least one seat unit as presented.

[0036] The fundamental concepts of the invention having just been set out above in their most elementary form, other details and characteristics will emerge more clearly on reading the description which follows and with reference to the appended drawings, giving by way of non-limiting example an embodiment of a flexible door in accordance with the principles of the invention.

[0037] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0038] The figures are provided for purely illustrative purposes to provide a better understanding of the invention without limiting its scope. The various elements may be represented schematically and are not necessarily to scale. Throughout the figures, identical or equivalent elements bear the same numerical reference.

[0039] It is thus illustrated in: - Figure 1: (already cited) a perspective view of two prior art seating units each equipped with a conventional sliding rigid door;

[0040] - Figure 2: (already cited) a detailed top view of figure 1;

[0041] - Figure 3: a front view of a flexible door according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0042] - Figure 4: a partial cutaway view of the flexible door, showing tensioners passing through the slat slides;

[0043] - Figure 5: a partial top view of a seat unit with the flexible door in the normal closed position;

[0044] - Figure 6: A partial top view of a seat unit with the flexible door in the normal open position;

[0045] - Figure 7: a detail of figure 6, showing the curvature of the door after closing;

[0046] - Figure 8: a perspective view of a seat unit with the flexible door in the emergency open position;

[0047] - Figure 9: a top view of figure 8;

[0048] - Figure 10a: a perspective view of a flexible door in the closed position, according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0049] - Figure 10b: the flexible door of figure 10a in the outward open position;

[0050] - Figure 10c: the flexible door of figure 10b in the inward open position.

[0051] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0052] In the embodiment described below, reference is made to a flexible door for an aircraft passenger seat unit, intended primarily for units with a convertible seat into a bed generally fitted to the business classes of airliners. This non-limiting example is given for a better understanding of the invention and does not exclude the use of the flexible door in another transport vehicle which lends itself to seating arrangements similar to those of airplanes.

[0053] In the present description, the term "flexible" designates the capacity of a structure to allow itself to be deformed with a very large amplitude and to return to its equilibrium position in the absence of bending force. Figure 3 represents a flexible door 10 comprising a plurality of slats 11 juxtaposed parallel and articulated to each other by their longitudinal sides (along the Y axis) to allow transverse flexibility (following the door, sliders 12 at a rate of two per slat 11 at the ends thereof, and tensioners 13 each passing through a same row of adjacent sliders 12 to provide transverse elasticity to the door 10 counteracting its flexibility and thus giving it its flexibility.

[0054] Indeed, in each pair of adjacent slats 11, the slats are articulated around a common longitudinal axis A substantially coincident with the longitudinal sides close to said slats, so that the different articulation axes are offset transversely (along the axis X) and involve kinematics of the “articulated arm” type at the door 10. The relative movement of the slats 11 is not completely free and remains constrained by the tensioners 13 which exert a restoring force on each slat 11 to return the door 10 to its rest position which is an unflexed position.

[0055] Figure 4 shows the tensioners 13 passing through the same row of sliders 12. In this example, the flexible door has two tensioners 13 per row of sliders 12, i.e. four tensioners in total, two at the lower end and two at the upper end of the door.

[0056] The tensioners 13 extend across the entire width of the flexible door 10 so as to provide flexibility at each slat 11. In addition, each set of tensioners 13 placed at one end of the door 10 has the same modulus of elasticity in bending (or stiffness) so that the bending of the door is not accompanied by twisting, in other words so that the door 10 does not twist when a passenger pushes it.

[0057] Of course, the level of elasticity sought for the flexible door 10 depends on the modulus of elasticity resulting from each set of tensioners 13, said resulting modulus itself being a function of the number of tensioners of the same type in each set.

[0058] According to the illustrated embodiment, each tensioner 13 is a flexible rod of circular cross-section inserted into suitable passages provided in the bodies of the sliders 12. Each slider 12 is fixed to one end of a strip 11 in a fixed manner by any suitable fixing means.

[0059] Alternatively, each slat can be made in one piece with its two end slides. For reasons of easy maintenance and replacement, it is nevertheless preferable for the slats 11 to be independent and separable from the slides 12.

[0060] The slats 11 are, for example, in the form of thin rectangular slats and have sufficient mechanical strength so as not to deform individually when the flexible door 10 is used.

[0061] Furthermore, a slot 15 remains between the adjacent slats 11 in order to facilitate their mutual articulation, to reduce their wear by contact as well as the noise produced by their movement.

[0062] Figure 5 shows the flexible door 10 installed in a seat unit 100 of the type comprising a seat convertible into a bed and various amenities generally offered to business class passengers.

[0063] The seat and the amenities of the seat unit are not the subject of the present invention and will therefore not be described. Only the outer shell of the seat unit participates in the operation of the flexible door and will be described in this connection.

[0064] In fact, the seat unit 100 is externally covered by a shell 20, generally of a shape composed of flat portions extending into rounded or successively broken portions, with which the flexible door 10 cooperates.

[0065] More precisely, the flexible door 10 is mounted to slide inside the shell 20 between two parallel panels of said shell: an external panel 21 and an internal panel 23, like a conventional pocket door.

[0066] The panels 21 and 23 are spaced apart and define an interior space 22 in which the flexible door 10 is housed completely or partially depending on whether it is in the open, half-open or closed position.

[0067] In Figure 5, the flexible door 10 is in the closed position and completely closes the passage by abutting against the shell 20 of the seat unit located immediately in front of the seat unit 100 to which said door belongs. In this closed position, the slats 11 are substantially coplanar so that the door 10 remains generally flat and has a first part, concealed, trapped in a flat portion of the shell 20 and a second part, visible, protruding from said shell and abutting against the front shell.

[0068] The flexible door 10 may of course include any gripping means such as a handle, projecting or hollowed out, to allow a user to slide it along the shell 20 between the closed position and the open position and vice versa.

[0069] The seat unit may also include a control button to automatically open and close the flexible door 10.

[0070] The sliding of the flexible door 10 is done by means of one or more rollers 25 in contact with the lower and / or upper sliders 12.

[0071] Figure 6 shows the flexible door 10 in an open position, fully open, which frees the passage P for entry and exit of the seat unit 100. In this open position, the flexibility of the door 10 allows it to fit into the curved and inclined portions of the shell 20 to be stored therein completely. This therefore allows the door 10 to occupy a portion of the storage space 22 which does not extend in the same direction X as the flat portion of the shell 20 close to the passage P, so as to limit the extension of the shell 20 in said direction while preserving a minimum regulatory width for the passage P.

[0072] Thus, an aircraft cabin can accommodate more seat units each equipped with a flexible door according to the invention than seat units each with a conventional rigid door.

[0073] When a user opens the flexible door 10, it slides from the outside to the inside of the shell 20 while being guided by the curvature of the panels 21 and 23. For this purpose, the slats 11 of the door 10 are narrower on its part, called distal, intended to penetrate into the curved portion of the shell 20 in which certain flexion zones are highly curved. The small width of the slats 11 in this distal part of the door 10 makes it possible to avoid their arching in the flexion zones Z of the shell 20 when the door slides.

[0074] Figure 7, which is a detail of Figure 6, clearly shows that the small width of the slats 11 allows the flexible door to slide in the interior space 22 reserved for it between the curved panels 21 and 23 of the shell. On the other hand, the slats 11 of the other part of the door 10 close to the passage P, called proximal, have a greater width. More precisely, the width of the slats 11 decreases progressively from the proximal part to the distal part.

[0075] This variation is clearly represented in Figure 3 with a larger width L1 and a smaller width L2.

[0076] The large width of the slats 11 of the proximal part makes it easier to open the door 10 in the event of an emergency evacuation, the passenger having to push the door forward.

[0077] Figures 8 and 9 represent, in perspective view and in top view respectively, the flexible door 10 as it would be deformed by a frontal thrust of the passenger, in particular in the event of an emergency evacuation.

[0078] The flexibility of the door 10 obtained by the articulated slats 11 and the tensioners 13 allows it to behave like a swinging saloon door, rightly known for its ease of opening and closing.

[0079] The flexible door 10 has been designed to comply with all applicable regulatory requirements, both in its structure and manufacturing materials and in its arrangement in the seat unit 100. For example, when installed in the shell 20, the door 10 is raised by a height h relative to the cabin floor.

[0080] Figures 10a to 10c show a flexible door 10' according to another embodiment, in which said door is not slidably mounted in the shell of the seat unit whose passage it conditions, but embedded in the shell of the seat unit located immediately in front.

[0081] In fact, the flexible door 10' is embedded along a vertical Y axis on a shell 20 located in front of the seat unit, access to which is provided by said door. This embedding allows the flexible door 10', thanks to its flexibility, to pivot relative to the Y axis.

[0082] With reference to Figure 10a, the flexible door 10' comprises, as in the first embodiment, a plurality of articulated slats 11, sliders 12 fixed to the ends of the slats, and tensioners 13 passing through the sliders.

[0083] The flexible door 10' is fixed to the shell 20 by means of a not shown embedding element on which the first slat 11 is articulated. In order to adapt to a particular geometry of the spacing between the two successive shells 20, the slats 11 have shapes adapted to match the shape of the spacing in the closed position. Thus, an end slat 11 has an inverted square shape to correspond to the inclined edge of the shell 20 while being articulated vertically to the adjacent slat which is rectangular in shape.

[0084] Figures 10a, 10b and 10c show the door 10' respectively in a closed position, in an outwardly open position when the passenger leaves the seating unit, and in an inwardly open position when the passenger accesses the seating unit.

[0085] According to this embodiment, the normal operation of the 10' flexible door is closer to the operation of a "saloon" door.

Claims

CLAIMS A door (10, 10') providing access to an aircraft passenger seat unit (100), particularly an airplane seat, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of slats (11) articulated to one another and connected by at least one tensioner (13), allowing said door to be flexible. A door according to claim 1, wherein the slats (11) are juxtaposed parallel to each other and articulated along their lengths. A door according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one tensioner (13) is located at each end of said door. A door according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a slide (12) at each end of each slat (11), through which at least one tensioner (13) passes. A door according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each tensioner (13) is an elastic rod having sufficient length to connect all the slats (11).A door according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the adjacent slats (11) are separated by a slot (15) over a major part of their length. A passenger seat unit (100) for an aircraft, particularly an airplane, characterized in that it comprises a door (10, 10') according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A seat unit according to claim 7, wherein the door (10) is mounted to slide between two parallel and curved panels (21, 23) of a shell (20). A seating unit according to claim 8, wherein the door (10) opens by flexing under the action of a push, without sliding. An aircraft cabin arrangement, particularly of an airplane, comprising at least one seating unit (100) according to claim 7.

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