Aircraft Fuselage Floor Elements for Modular Cabin Adaptation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current aircraft fuselage designs face challenges in easily adapting to customer-specific equipment requirements, as the interior is often not easily modified over the aircraft's service life, limiting flexibility and customization options.

Innovation Solution

The design incorporates a fuselage section with multiple ring frames, floor longitudinal beams, and mechanically coupled floor elements that can be easily adjusted in terms of design, dimensions, and coupling, allowing for quick changes in cabin configurations without altering other essential fuselage construction elements, and enabling load transfer through mechanical connections.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the interior of an aircraft fuselage is designed to remain unchanged for its service life, then structural stability and reliability are improved, but adaptability to customer-specific equipment requirements deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural stabilityVSAvoidadaptability to customer requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The floor system is divided into multiple individual floor elements (18) that can be independently installed, removed, and reconfigured. Each floor element can be mechanically coupled to adjacent floor elements and to the longitudinal floor members, allowing the floor to be segmented into modular units that maintain structural integrity while enabling easy adaptation to different customer requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Strength

If conventional floor systems with crossbeams and Samer rods are used, then structural support is improved, but ease of modification and assembly deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural supportVSAvoidease of modification
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The invention extracts and eliminates the need for conventional crossbeams and Samer rods from the floor system. Instead, the floor elements themselves assume the load transfer function, directly coupling to the longitudinal floor members. This extraction of unnecessary structural elements simplifies the overall system and makes modification and assembly much easier while maintaining adequate structural support.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Ease of operation

If floor elements are mechanically coupled to each other, then ease of assembly and disassembly is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of assemblyVSAvoidmechanical coupling system
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The floor elements are designed with universal mechanical coupling capabilities that allow them to perform multiple functions: they provide structural support, transfer loads, and enable easy assembly and disassembly. The coupling mechanism between floor elements and between floor elements and longitudinal members is designed to be standardized and interchangeable, reducing the need for different types of connections and thereby reducing overall device complexity despite the added versatility.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4303118A1Aircraft fuselage section and aircraft therewith
Publication Date: 2024.01.10 AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH
  • EP4303118A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4303118A1 patent drawingFigure 3a~3c
  • EP4303118A1 patent drawingFigure 4~7

AI summary

The invention relates to an aircraft fuselage section 10 for an aircraft 40, comprising a plurality of ring frames 12 arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction X of the aircraft, two floor longitudinal beams 14a, 14b arranged opposite each other in the transverse direction Y of the aircraft on the ring frames 12, and which laterally define a cabin floor 16, and a plurality of floor elements 18 which can be mechanically coupled to one another, which are arranged between the two lateral floor longitudinal beams 14a, 14b, and which at least partially form the cabin floor 16.