Aircraft Seating Arrangement with Underlapping Seats
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft seating arrangements face challenges in maximizing seating capacity while maintaining passenger comfort, as lie-flat seating requires additional space and previous designs often obstruct ingress and egress, increase structural loads, and compromise privacy and safety.
Innovation Solution
The arrangement of a three-seat grouping with fore-facing, aft-facing, and upper seating assemblies, where the lower assemblies can be angled or aligned relative to the upper seat, allowing underlapping in lie-flat positions, which reduces overall length, enhances ingress and egress, and provides unobstructed access without requiring passengers to crawl over others.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If lie-flat seating is provided with adequate pitch (58-82 inches), then passenger comfort is improved, but seating capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a vertical dimension by positioning one seat above the other, transforming a single-row horizontal arrangement into a multi-level three-dimensional configuration. This allows lie-flat seating with adequate pitch while increasing seating capacity by utilizing unused vertical space in the aircraft cabin.
Solution Approach 2:
The lower seat is positioned beneath the upper seat, with the lower seat's backrest serving as part of the upper seat's support structure. This nested arrangement allows both seats to occupy overlapping vertical space efficiently, maximizing seating density while maintaining comfort.
2Ease of operation
If seats are arranged in traditional side-by-side rows, then ingress and egress is facilitated, but space utilization is suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
By arranging seats in a vertical stack rather than horizontal row, the patent creates direct access to both seats from the aisle without requiring passengers to pass through adjacent seats. This three-dimensional arrangement improves space utilization while maintaining ease of access.
3Quantity of substance
If raised seating is provided to increase density, then seating capacity is improved, but structural load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lower seat's backrest is integrated to serve as part of the upper seat's support structure, merging the functions of both seats into a shared structural system. This reduces redundant structural elements and minimizes the additional weight compared to providing two separate full-size seats.
4Ease of operation
If lie-flat seating is provided, then passenger comfort is improved, but the arrangement requires alternative configurations to utilize space efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The vertical stacking arrangement provides a straightforward and intuitive configuration that naturally utilizes aircraft cabin space without requiring complex angled or overlapping arrangements. The simplicity of the vertical stack reduces arrangement complexity while maximizing space efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
Seating arrangements for seats configurable between an upright and lie-flat position are presented. A three-seat grouping can include a lower aft-facing seating assembly, an upper seating assembly, and a lower fore-facing seating assembly in which the lower seating assemblies underlap the upper seating assembly when in a lie-flat position. Lower seats can be aligned or angled with respect to an upper seat in a manner that conserves space. A six-seat grouping can include 3-seat groupings in which lower seats are aligned with upper seats, or are angled with respect to them. Support structures can be shared by adjacent seats. A six-seat grouping can be embodied as a hybrid arrangement in which footspace is narrower for a lower opposing seat than for a lower seat facing the same direction as an upper seat. In an example embodiment, footspace can be divided between an upper seat and a lower opposing seat.